Minister Nikola Janović did not invite the two-time best young athlete of Montenegro, boxer Bojana Gojković, to the ceremonial academy on the occasion of the Day of National Teams.
In an open letter, the coach of the boxing national team, Boško Drašković, expressed his doubt that the invitation to the two-time European champion was not accidentally missed.
"Dear Minister Janović, you did not invite Bojana Gojkovic, a two-time European champion who was twice chosen by the Montenegrin Olympic Committee as the best young athlete of Montenegro, at the ceremonial academy that was held on the occasion of the Day of National Teams.
Dear Ministers, I cannot accept if you say that Gojković was accidentally forgotten or left out unintentionally, because there are too many coincidences for anyone to believe in such a thing. I remind you that Gojković, after the second European title she won last year, is the only athlete who was not officially received, even though you did not miss the opportunity to arrange a reception for all the other successes from other sports, even though the results were below her feats. I cannot accept that as a Minister you do not understand yourself, or that you are not knowledgeable enough, so you do not value sports results in the right way".
But there is worse than that, and that is that Bojana Gojković, by winning the gold medal at the European Championship, was denied the legal title of promising athlete, which was not granted to her by the Ministry of Sports. We asked the Ministry why, and received absurd answers to the effect that not a year had passed since winning the first European gold. Couldn't the status that it deserves be extended after the year was up?!
After the absence of an invitation to the best sportswoman of Montenegro for the national team day ceremony, I believe that everything is intentional and for reasons unknown to us, intentional discrimination.
I wonder what next!? So far, we have witnessed being omitted from the list for the ceremonial academy, the inappropriate reception on the occasion of winning the European gold and, as you said, a "loophole" in the law due to which you did not extend Bojana's status as a promising athlete to which she belongs according to the Law on Sports... What can we expect next. ..
I'm not someone who accepts conspiracy theories, but everyday life with boxing and boxers for twenty years, I've wondered many times if someone wants to destroy this sport, which still survives despite all the obstacles, whether you agree with it or not. And not only that, but boxing records the best results of all Montenegrin sports. It was like that before 2006, it's like that since Montenegro became an independent state, but you categorized it in another category of sports in Montenegro.
According to the result, this is unacceptable, and regardless of the categorization criteria, this sport still had to rise to the highest level. One of the criteria is the popularity of the sport, and how is it possible to make an assessment of the real state of popularity and why boxing was not recognized according to that criterion, when some of the boxing matches of Montenegrin boxers were watched all over the world, and were even the most watched sports event where Montenegrin could stand out the flag.
I also remind you that since independence, three boxers have been unfairly overlooked in the selection of the best athlete of the year - Milorad Gajović in 2007, Dejan Zlaticanin in 2016 and myself in 2009. If you think this is my subjective feeling, take the list of results from the mentioned years.
With the establishment of the Ministry of Sports, and the arrival at the head of a top sportsman, which he undoubtedly is, I believed that there would be reforms in sports that would reduce "accidental" mistakes, and that talents, with the help of all of us who work in sports, would reach and give their maximum as would present themselves and Montenegro as well as possible in the world.
I also remind you that the Sports Inspectorate previously notified and pointed out the irregularities committed by the management of BSCG and requested that you react due to the violation of the Statute, you did not take any action after the report and thus you showed that you do not have the same criteria for the same problems in different sports.
In the last three years, Montenegrin boxing has won four medals at the European youth championships, and this is proof that the generation of young boxers will be one of the greatest representatives of our sport in the future. That is why I rightly expect that the attention and support of the Ministry will not be lacking in the future, because if we return this sport to the level it belongs to during your mandate, it will be partly your merit.
I expect you to accept this criticism as a former athlete and my colleague from two Olympics, and not as a politician, because I don't belong to any political structure, and as a selector I value only work, commitment and results", concluded Boško Drašković's statement with a sporting greeting.
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