{"id":173344,"date":"2025-03-27T20:09:12","date_gmt":"2025-03-27T18:09:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/?p=173344"},"modified":"2025-03-27T20:09:13","modified_gmt":"2025-03-27T18:09:13","slug":"sinisa-is-the-champion-of-america-but-would-love-to-compete-for-serbia-i-was-born-in-the-usa-but-i-am-proud-to-speak-serbian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/sinisa-is-the-champion-of-america-but-would-love-to-compete-for-serbia-i-was-born-in-the-usa-but-i-am-proud-to-speak-serbian\/","title":{"rendered":"SINI\u0160A IS THE CHAMPION OF AMERICA, BUT WOULD LOVE TO COMPETE FOR SERBIA: I was born in the USA but I am proud to speak Serbian!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Another Serb born in America has recently shone in the sports field. Kickboxer Sini\u0161a Jovi\u0107 won the gold medal at the USA championship and thus earned a place in the national team at the WAKO World Kickboxing Championship to be held in Abu Dhabi, as well as the Pan American Games in South America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jovi\u0107, who competes in the 178-pound category, was born in High Point, North Carolina, USA, and grew up in Bijeljina and Ohio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

-My family originates from Majevica, for which I have fond memories from the time when I was still a boy. That helped me learn and never forget the Serbian language, although I was born far from my homeland, which I am very proud of. I returned with my family to America when I was 9 years old, says Sini\u0161a Jovi\u0107 at the beginning of the interview for Serbian Times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
COLUMBUS, OHIO – MARCH 2: Images from the 2025 WAKO USA United States Kickboxing National Championships at the Ohio Expo Center in Columbus, OH. Photo Credit: Ed Mulholland for WAKO USA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0<\/strong>-I have been training kickboxing since I was seven years old when my mother enrolled me in karate and boxing in Bijeljina. I don’t have idols among athletes, and my only idol was and will remain Jesus Christ. My favorite fighters were Bruce Lee, Fedor Emelianenko, Muhammad Ali, Roy Jones Jr. and Andy Hug.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although he recently became a US national team member, he says he would gladly trade their jersey for the Serbian national team jersey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

-I would like to compete for Serbia in the future because it is my country, my people. I know that Serbia has excellent kickboxers who win medals at world competitions, so I hope that someone from the local federation will notice me and invite me, says Jovi\u0107.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

GOLD MEDAL: Sini\u0161a would like to win them for Serbia one day<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He says that he has been following all Serbian athletes since he was a child\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

-\u0110okovi\u0107 is one of my favorite athletes. I also like Joki\u0107, Luka Don\u010di\u0107, whose father is Serbian, and in kickboxing Rade Opa\u010di\u0107. I also used to follow Pe\u0111a Stojakovi\u0107 and Vlado Divac. Of course, when there are big competitions, world championships and the Olympics, I follow our national teams and cheer wholeheartedly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When asked how much America cares about so-called small sports like kickboxing, Sini\u0161a surprised us with his answer:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

-The United States of America is one of the few countries that does not have a Ministry of Sports and does not finance athletes who join their national team. There is no awareness of this and I try to draw attention with my public appearances and I hope that in the future our great country will take more care of all the athletes who represent it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the state does not help him, Sini\u0161a Jovi\u0107 has to raise money for travel and competitions himself:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

-I am currently looking for sponsors who would help me cover my travel expenses, and in return I would promote their brand at the local, national and international level. I hope that this story will attract the attention of the Serbian community and that someone will recognize their interest in cooperating with me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

THEY CALL HIM “SNIPER”: Sini\u0161a is characterized by precise strikes in kickboxing<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the end of the conversation, Sini\u0161a wanted to say something to young people who are just starting their sports careers:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

-My late grandfather Cvjetko told my mother, and she told me: “Whatever you do in life, be it the smallest or the biggest, do everything with 100 percent love, heart and soul, and everything will be easy and joyful for you.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Text<\/strong>: Antonije Kova\u010devi\u0107; Photo<\/strong>: Private archive<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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BEAUTY QUEEN, MOTHER OF SIX, AND A HEROINE: Ljiljana volunteered in \u201999, put on the uniform, and died defending Kosovo and Metohija! (PHOTO)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYOU YOUNG MEN WON\u2019T DIE, I WILL!\u201d: Milenko Pavlovi\u0107, the pilot who flew to his death and into eternity!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Another Serb born in America has recently shone in the sports field. Kickboxer Sini\u0161a Jovi\u0107 won the gold medal at the USA championship and thus earned a place in the national team at the WAKO World Kickboxing Championship to be held in Abu Dhabi, as well as the Pan American Games in South America. Jovi\u0107, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":173348,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[2427,5823,581,5822],"class_list":["post-173344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diaspora","tag-kickboxing","tag-serb-in-america","tag-serbs-in-america","tag-sinisa-jovic","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Serbiantimes.info EN","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173344"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173344\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":173350,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173344\/revisions\/173350"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/173348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}