Karate player Lazar Đurčević has no place in the Montenegrin national team for the European Championships in Frankfurt on May 20th, due to personal conflicts and legal battles between him and the coach of the Vukovi Zeta karate club, Toko Raičević, with the new management and acting coaches of the Montenegrin Karate Association.
According to Raičević, a former national team member and karate referee with the highest EKF title, the reasons for not inviting his competitors are ongoing legal proceedings.
"The Disciplinary Commission of the Serbian Football Federation (KSCG) has decided to suspend me, ban me from holding office for half a year and impose a fine of 400 euros. Of course, I will file an appeal within the legally prescribed deadline, to the second-instance body, which is the Board of Directors, but I believe that children and competitors should not suffer due to personal disagreements and different opinions about the path our sport should take. Everyone should get what they deserve on the tatami," Raičević emphasized and added:
"I remind you, Lazar Đurčević is the senior vice-champion of Montenegro, the current champion of the Balkans and Montenegro under 21, and he was the closest to surprising the European champion in Limassol at the European Under 21 Championship, when he was the only one to lose by just one point....
"The fact that he was illegitimately, without a competition and regulations prescribed by the Statute of our Federation, omitted from the list by acting coach Nenad Vojinović, in order to include two competitors from his club, who, incidentally, have an incomparably worse result, forced me to address the public and demand respect for the result achieved on the tatami. After all, that's how it has been for the last 37 years, since I have been in karate, as a competitor, national team member, sports worker, judge, coach and fifth-dane black belt holder," Raičević pointed out.
He insists that Đurčević gets what he deserves!
"I understand that there is no place for Đurčević in the individual performance as the second-place finisher at the national championship, behind the undisputed and one of the two best karatekas in history, Nenad Dulović, or then Nemanja Jovović in a higher weight category, but I do not accept the fact of being left out of the team in the fights, for which he should definitely get a place based on his results," concluded Raičević.
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