Montenegrin karate players Bojan Bošković and Predrag Smolović won silver medals at the European Championship for cadets, juniors and junior seniors in Budapest.
Today, in the final match of the category up to 67 kilograms, Bošković was defeated by the Frenchman Younes Salmi 2:1.
It is the fourth honor for the younger senior from Omladinac at major competitions in his career. Last year in Chile, he became the junior world champion.
He was also the best world cadet in 2017, while a year later in Sochi he won silver at the European Championship in the junior competition.
"I am partly satisfied with the silver medal. It was my first competition, that is, my first year in the junior senior competition. Every effort pays off, it was difficult, I had five matches. I could have done better in the finals, tactically and physically." Boskovic said.
He was free in the first round of the category up to 67 kilograms, in the second he won against Hungarian David Enrique Nichols-Izagirio 2:0, while in the third he eliminated Younes Olad Haj Amar from Belgium 6:1. He was also convincing against the Russian Oleg Kavka 11:4, while in the match for the final he won against the Macedonian Robert Acovski 4:1.
In the final of the category over 84 kilograms, Smolović lost to Igor Lahunov from Ukraine 2:0 and won the first major medal at the European and world championships.
The member of Nikšić's Onogošt defeated Krenar Džaferi from Macedonia 4:1 at the start, while in the second he eliminated Englishman Brendon Carr 2:0. In the third round, even though he was leading 4:1, he celebrated thanks to the rule of the first point scored against the Irishman Christopher McCarthy Crean (4:4), while he won the final match with a victory against the Hungarian Ronald Jovai 7:4.
"The first European medal for me. I am satisfied with my performance, maybe the medal could have been even better, but my opponent was of extremely high quality. I hope that it will be even better in the future, and now I have the senior competition in front of me. I hope that and there will be a medal," said Smolović.
Ksenija Rajović over 68 and Saša Bojović in the category up to 55 kilograms were the winners of the last competition day. Rajović was free at the start, in the second round she was better than Denmark's Federika Olesen 5:0, while in the third she lost to Croatia's Lucija Lesjak 4:0, who later won the bronze medal.
In the first round, Bojović won against Loren Zarei from Sweden 2:0, while in the second round she lost to Albulena Gervala from Kosovo 2:0.
Balša Milicković, Ilija Radonjić, Vasilisa Bujić and Jovana Strujić ended their performance without a win.
In the category up to 75 kilograms, Milicković was free in the first round, while in the second he was defeated by Adrian Salas Lopez from Norway 1:0.
Ilija Radonjić was also free at the start with 84, while in the second round he lost to the Swiss Ebine Siuto Hermeš 2:0.
Up to 61 kilograms, Strujić lost in the first round to Russian Valerija Golbjeva 8:2, and Bujić up to 68 to Anita Makijan from Armenia 4:0.
Slobodan Vlahović, the selector of karate fighters, said that he must be satisfied with the performance and results in Budapest.
"Having two finals is a result for any resect. I am happy that both finals are in the competition of younger seniors. These are the guys who are the backbone of the senior national team. Kudos to Bošković and Smolović for showing that they can be seriously counted on in the coming period." Vlahovic said.
He pointed out that three competitors are winning medals for the first time at major competitions.
"It is an indicator that the clubs and the Karate Association are doing well," Vlahović said.
Montenegrin karate players finished their performance at the championship with five medals - three silver and two bronze.
On Friday, the first day of competition, junior senior Vladimir Mijač won silver in kata, while cadets Emre Saljiu and Andrija Danilović won bronze medals in wrestling.
In the general ranking, the Montenegrin national team finished in 19th place. if at least one of the finals had been won, Montenegro would have been eighth in Europe, and only eight selections had more than five medals.
The successful championship of Montenegrin karate in Budapest was completed by judges Miodrag Radunović and Veljko Brnović, who were actors of the final fights on all three competition days.
The championship in Budapest brought together 1155 competitors from 52 European countries.
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