Igokea basketball player Dalibor Ilić is the best athlete in the Republic of Srpska for 2020. The hope of multiple BiH champion was crowned with this flattering title as he won first place in the 66th selection of the 10 best athletes of the Republic of Srpska, organized by “Voice of Srpska”.
“Still, it is the third time’s a charm. So far, I was second and seventh in the selection of the 10 best athletes of RS. Being the best athlete in my sport is a great recognition, and being the best athlete in the Republic of Srpska is a great privilege. As always, I secretly hoped that I will be chosen and now it has come true, so I am overjoyed. Thank you to my coaches and teammates, without whom I would not have reached this, ” said Ilić at the proclamation ceremony, which due to epidemiological reasons was not held at the Banski dvor in Banja Luka, but was broadcast last night via the Radio-Television of the Republic of Srpska.
The jury, chaired by the famous water polo player and selector of Serbia Dejan Savić, decided that the second place went to football player Vladan Danilović, the third to athlete Vanja Spaić, the fourth to karate player Anja Lolić, the fifth to handball player and last year’s laureate Bojan Ljubišić, the sixth to skier Katjamoja Ebo, eighth to boxer Radenko Tomić, ninth to judoka Božidar Vučurević and tenth to bowler Marko Trklja.
“Due to the pandemic, the year was poor in results, so we had a hard time evaluating all the results. We took all the facts into account and saw from all sides what the RS athletes achieved in the last year. I believe we did not make a mistake in our choice,” said Savić.
Another 10 awards were given, and the title of the best athlete from RS was taken for the second time by judoka Nemanja Majdov, who won silver at the European Championship. The title of the best coach, also for the second time, was given to the head of the professional staff of KK Igoke, Dragan Bajić, due to his chosen performance in the group phase of the Champions League.
The ambassadors of the sport were handball referees Tatjana Praštalo and Vesna Balvan, as well as the former coach of the Legion football player Aleksandar Vuković, who was the champion of Poland with the team from Warsaw this year.
The plaquette for special and parallel ties between Serbia and RS in the field of sports went to the president of the jury, Dejan Savić, as well as to the Secretary-General of the Serbian Athletics Federation, Slobodan Branković.
The plaquette for the long-term contribution to the development of sports ended up in the hands of Zoran Ješić, a member of the Volleyball Club for the Disabled in Banja Luka.
The plaquette for the exceptional endeavor of the year went to the Tennis Association of Republic of Srpska, which built the Tennis Center of the Republic of Srpska in the “Mladen Stojanović” park in Banja Luka in a record short time.
Nenad Ritan, a member of the Basketball Club for the Disabled in the Vrbas, received the award for exceptional results in Paralympic sports. As part of the “Voice of Srpska” event, the Radio-Television of the Republic of Srpska declared the International Street Race from Prnjavor the sports event of the year. The plaquette was posthumously awarded to the legendary swimming coach Branko Mićin, who passed away this year.
The award for the best sports journalist for 2020 “Golden Pen – Lemon Papić” went to the editor of the sports program of Radio RS, Aleksandra Perić.
As part of the Selection of the 10 best athletes of the RS, the Ministry of Family, Youth and Sports of the RS awarded the most promising athletes within the event. The awards were given to Vuk Bošković (basketball), Oleg Galić (athletics), Nikša Petrović (handball), Jovan Lekić (swimming), Matej Rašić (archery), Nikolina Čučak (karate), Marko Kujundžić (football), Sara Mikača (tennis), Dario Pejić (table tennis), Sofija Bratić (volleyball) and Aleksandar Đurić (sitting volleyball).
TST
