A proud achievement: Mikulić reaches historic silver medal

The fantastic last season was celebrated in grand style, and Montenegrin karate entered the new one with incredible success - silver. Nemanja Mikulić in the 75 kg category in the Premier League in Paris.

Montenegro has been waiting for a decade for the Premier League final, when it celebrated in Salzburg Almir Cecun residentNow in the role of coach, from the perspective of the fantastic performances of the 21-year-old Whites' fighter in Paris, Cecunjanin has no dilemma:

- The Premier League in Paris is the highest quality tournament in my over 20 years of presence at all the biggest competitions! In five categories with 32 top ranked ones each. The quality of the fights was such that I literally did not leave the hall for the entire duration. It remains a pity that Nikola Malović missed out on qualifying from the group in the last bout against his Moroccan rival, he was leading 2:0 in the 84kg category, but in such a competition no mistake is forgiven and after two wins he was eliminated. Well, Mikulić turned things around in the last bout and won the group, and despite the fact that he also won against the Egyptian competitor, the victory over the Turk left the strongest impression on me Enesom Bulutom, whom he had previously lost to constantly. He was leading by as much as 7:1. And now he won 4:0 with an incredible fight without a single mistake - Cecunjanin tells "Vijesti".

Only three of our fighters had the right to compete in Paris according to the WKF rating.

- Nenad Dulović did not travel due to injury, but as the current world and European vice-champion, he has already secured a place at the World Championships in Cairo in October. Participation in the biggest event is no longer possible without a difficult qualification process, there are only places for the 32 best in the world. After the results from Paris, I expect that after the rating update, Mikulić will be around 10th, and Malović will be in 21st place. It is a favorable circumstance that the Egyptians, who have dominated world karate in recent years, are the hosts and that only one representative of each national team has the right to compete. In Paris, there were several Egyptians in each category, they won three gold medals out of five categories - says Cecunjanin.

What is the path to placement for competitors who started the season ranked above 32nd in the rankings?

- The best chance is the European Championship in May in Yerevan, where the top eight in each category will qualify, and they must also participate in Serie A tournaments in order to collect points. All of this in the new system favors countries that invest more, and it is financially difficult to sustain. We are still waiting for the budget, and delaying its adoption is not in our favor. However, we are lucky to have a great management in Karate Savaez with Predrag Perković "I am at the helm, and personally as a coach, I am satisfied with the work in the clubs and the sacrifices made by the people who lead them," explained Cecunjanin.

You have shown in the past year that you are competitive with the world's best karate players. What is the recipe for karate being one of the few sports from Montenegro that keeps up with the best?

- By participating in seminars, we organized a large number ourselves and brought all the best that the world has ever had. Last year, the best katas ever held seminars in Montenegro, Luca Valdesiand in fighting, world champions Predrag Stojadinov i Khaldun AlagasIn March, Bar will have the honor of hosting Rafael Agajev, the greatest ever karate fighter, and personally, my long-standing wish is coming true. He won me by a landslide in Russia two decades ago, won six world and 11 European gold medals, and ended his career with Olympic silver in Tokyo. The seminar in Bar will bring together all coaches from the country and the region, for a great opportunity to learn and follow trends. Agajev was at his peak back in 2008, when he was the last world champion in the middleweight and then absolute category in Tokyo. The Olympic path of karate began with that competition, and all indications are that we will be at the Olympics again in 2032 - concluded Cecunjanin.