{"id":198937,"date":"2026-01-22T23:11:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T21:11:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/?p=198937"},"modified":"2026-01-22T23:11:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T21:11:16","slug":"nada-is-a-former-champion-fighting-for-the-survival-of-her-legendary-club-in-chicago-she-was-helped-by-serbian-priests-who-even-played-table-tennis-with-her-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/nada-is-a-former-champion-fighting-for-the-survival-of-her-legendary-club-in-chicago-she-was-helped-by-serbian-priests-who-even-played-table-tennis-with-her-video\/","title":{"rendered":"NADA IS A FORMER CHAMPION FIGHTING FOR THE SURVIVAL OF HER LEGENDARY CLUB: In Chicago she was helped by Serbian priests, who even played table tennis with her! (VIDEO)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Nada Kujund\u017ei\u0107 was a Yugoslav national team table tennis player and winner of numerous medals for the national team. She was once proclaimed an Olympic prospect, but the civil war in the former Yugoslavia cut short her dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With her club \u201cPeru\u0107ica\u201d from Fo\u010da, Nada played in the final of the largest European club competition, the Nancy Evans Cup, in 1987, and today, as a coach, she is trying to save it and fight for the continuation of its golden streak and the tradition of producing champions from talents from that small town in Republika Srpska.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In order to help young talents from Fo\u010da and provide them with equipment and training conditions, Kujund\u017ei\u0107, together with humane people from the Old Church of the Resurrection of Christ in Chicago, organized a charity tournament in which the organizers gave up the proceeds and the winners their prizes, all for the benefit of \u201cPeru\u0107ica.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Even priests from two parishes of the Serbian Orthodox Church took part in the tournament and demonstrated remarkable skill (watch the video), and in an interview Nada spoke to us about her struggle, the golden days of Yugoslav table tennis, socializing and competing with giants of the sport such as Ilie Lupulescu, Jasna and Amela Fazli\u0107, Zoran Primorac\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She recalled how she trembled while listening to the anthem on the winners\u2019 podium, at a time when, as she says, sport was a chivalrous competition, not a business\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Watch this wonderful, nostalgic confession of a former champion, as well as a report from an interesting tournament where, as we said, people also played in cassocks\u2026<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@SerbianNewsUSA\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"U \u010cIKAGU I POPOVI IGRAJU STONI TENIS: A evropska \u0161ampionka se bori za opstanak legendarnog kluba\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/3dqIMscRrOc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"http:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/01\/Dejan-Kuljanin-Nada-Kujundzic-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-198938\" srcset=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/01\/Dejan-Kuljanin-Nada-Kujundzic-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/01\/Dejan-Kuljanin-Nada-Kujundzic-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/01\/Dejan-Kuljanin-Nada-Kujundzic-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/01\/Dejan-Kuljanin-Nada-Kujundzic-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/01\/Dejan-Kuljanin-Nada-Kujundzic-800x600.jpg 800w, https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/01\/Dejan-Kuljanin-Nada-Kujundzic-1568x1176.jpg 1568w, https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/01\/Dejan-Kuljanin-Nada-Kujundzic-1200x900.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/01\/Dejan-Kuljanin-Nada-Kujundzic.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>HUMANE DIASPORA:<\/strong> Nada with the tournament winner Dejan Kuljanin, who was also the organizer of the humanitarian tournament at the Old Church of the Holy Resurrection in Chicago<br><br><em><strong>For more stories like this, click\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/3rvBacE\">HERE!<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><mark style=\"background-color:#FFFFFF;color:#d21414\" class=\"has-inline-color\">MORE TOPICS:<\/mark><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/rainy-serbs-from-north-america-they-raised-a-church-from-the-ashes-and-now-americans-are-converting-to-orthodoxy-with-them-and-they-still-make-the-best-cevapi-in-the-world-video\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">RAINY SERBS FROM NORTH AMERICA: They raised a church from the ashes, and now Americans are converting to Orthodoxy with them! And they still make the best cevapi in the world! (VIDEO)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/for-the-second-time-after-70-years-orthodox-christians-near-zadar-swam-for-the-holy-cross-video\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">FOR THE SECOND TIME AFTER 70 YEARS: Orthodox Christians near Zadar swam for the Holy Cross! (VIDEO)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/jos-uvek-spava-mozak-ne-reaguje-novi-detalji-o-stanju-malog-nika-antica-12-kog-je-napala-ajkula-u-sidneju\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">\u201cHE IS STILL ASLEEP, THE BRAIN IS NOT RESPONDING\u201d: New details on the condition of little Niko Anti\u0107 (12), who was attacked by a shark in Sydney<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/tragedy-in-belgrade-brother-of-famous-footballer-nemanja-vidic-found-dead\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\"><strong>TRAGEDY IN BELGRADE: Brother of famous footballer Nemanja Vidi\u0107 found dead!<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/everything-goes-slowly-the-medicine-is-always-the-same-a-serb-living-in-sweden-lashed-out-at-the-healthcare-system-video\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">\u201cEVERYTHING GOES SLOWLY, THE MEDICINE IS ALWAYS THE SAME\u201d: A Serb living in Sweden lashed out at the healthcare system! (VIDEO)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source<\/strong>: Antonije Kova\u010devi\u0107<br><strong>Edit: <\/strong>Ivana Talijan<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/horor-u-sidneju-mali-niko-antic-12-se-bori-za-zivot-posle-napada-ajkule-porodica-prikuplja-sredstva-za-lecenje\/\" title=\"\"><br><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/rod-blagojevic-amerika-ce-pokrenuti-istragu-o-uticaju-muslimanske-brace-u-bosni-i-hercegovini\/\" title=\"\"><br><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/tragedija-u-beogradu-brat-nemanje-vidica-pronadjen-mrtav\/\" title=\"\"><br><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nada Kujund\u017ei\u0107 was a Yugoslav national team table tennis player and winner of numerous medals for the national team. She was once proclaimed an Olympic prospect, but the civil war in the former Yugoslavia cut short her dreams. With her club \u201cPeru\u0107ica\u201d from Fo\u010da, Nada played in the final of the largest European club competition, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":198939,"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":[45,1778,9099,10867,500,6680,6780,10868,10775,10776,10777,10869,113,295,10870,10871,10872,10873],"class_list":["post-198937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diaspora","tag-chicago","tag-cikago","tag-crkva-vaskrsenja-hristovog","tag-dejan-kuljanin","tag-dijaspora","tag-humanitarni-turnir","tag-imigracija","tag-milan-popovic","tag-nada-kujundzic","tag-otac-dragan-arsic","tag-otac-nemanja-tesic","tag-perucica-foca-2","tag-srbija","tag-srpska-dijaspora","tag-stara-crkva-svetog-vaskrsenja-cikago","tag-stk-perucica-foca","tag-stoni-tenis","tag-turnir-u-stonom-tenisu","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\/198937","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=198937"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198937\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":198981,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198937\/revisions\/198981"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/198939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}