SERBIA WON ANOTHER MEDAL: Svetlana and Ivana Won Bronze at the European Pickleball Championship!

The Second European Pickleball Championship was held this weekend in Rome. The legendary Foro Italico center, the temple of world tennis, hosted 30 European countries from September 17 to 21, ready to cross pickleball paddles.

Team Serbia competed in 5 out of 6 disciplines and achieved great success. Serbian seniors, captain Svetlana Nedeljković and Ivana Nikolić, once again stood on the winners’ podium. Our seniors dominated Group A (Austria, Ireland, Sweden and Bulgaria), losing only 5 points in all matches, and qualified as the first seed in the main draw.

In a dramatic semifinal, the Spanish team outplayed Serbia with a score of 15:13. Nedeljković and Nikolić then found themselves facing the Swedes again and triumphed with 11:4 / 11:8, bringing bronze to Serbia.

This is an exceptionally great success considering that our best player and US Open champion, Natalija Todorović Shaw, could not defend the gold this year.

In three days of great battles, the seniors also reached the quarterfinals in singles and also entered the top 8 mixed teams, with the support of Peđa Rakić.

This year, the Serbian OPEN category team was significantly strengthened by the presence of one of the best players of the American professional circuits, Emir Hamzić. With the support of Daniel Forir, the team advanced to the round of 16 where Emir recorded one of the most attractive points of the tournament. Emir Hamzić and Marina Sičić shined in the extremely strong mixed OPEN category. In the women’s OPEN category, in addition to Marina Sičić, the sisters Teodora Zonić and Sandra Spirta also competed.

The national team was led by coach Boris Nedić.

Team Serbia leaves Rome proud and victorious!