President of Croatian Armwrestling Federation Alexandar Jakovac told us about the team success and plans.
Croatian team took part in the Judgment day tournament in Budapest. How do you like the competition?
– I think our team was very successful at the “Judgement day”. We brought 15 competitors to the championship and they show good results. Especially well was one our heavyweight sportsman Andrija Raguž. He is a young guy, who is only 9 months in armwrestling. We didn’t expect so much from him but he made 1st place in his class. Total we have 9 medals – two silvers for Drazen Kogl, two bronzes for Valentino Hegol in disabled class, Andrija Raguž - gold and bronze, Marijan Harča - gold and silver, Jasenko Miletić – bronze.
We are satisfied with the result because our team is very young. Croatia is 7 years in armwrestling, we have only 11 clubs and 200-250 sportsmen in the country. But such competitions help us to improve our level and next year we’ll plan to bring 5-10 sportsmen more.
Whose fight at the tournament you think was the most interesting and why?
– Speaking about Croatians I can notice our champion Drazen Kogl – he always shows good result. But there was one interesting and important fight with him. At the table Drazen met with Romanian athlete Alin Tudor. Drazen’s category is senior 75 kg (although he was 65 kg and 48 years old), but Alin is 17 years old! I guess it is very important because this fight shows that anybody can practice armwrestling, it doesn’t depend on the age, only on will.
What is the next sport stop of the Croatian team?
– Plans are big! I will go to the Asian Cup, then our sportsmen will visit a championship in Italy in 28th of October, also we have a series of armfights with Serbian sportsmen. And of course – Zloty Tur! Zlotu Tur is the #1 tournament and it is big honor to participate here.