Knight titles in the Balkans are reserved mainly for men, heroes, who, according to the great Serbian ruler and poet Petar Petrović Njegoš, „can reach and escape, and exist in a terrible place.“ But what to do when in a chivalrous, the most masculine of all sports, a lady appears who is better than any hero…
This is the story of Miona Badžević-Anđelković, until recently the Serbian champion in practical shooting, a discipline that is not yet Olympic but is increasingly popular in the world.
-It all started when, about 6 years ago, I came to the shooting range quite by chance as a recreational athlete, participating in a tournament organized by „Cobras“, a special unit of the Serbian Army. They noticed that I have talent and invited me to join them, says Miona at the beginning of the conversation with Serbian Times.
After less than two years of training with the „Cobras“, Miona, as the only civilian in the team, began to achieve excellent results in competitions, better even than those who trained for this type of sport their entire professional life.
Practical shooting is, to clarify for those who don’t know, a sport in which you shoot from a real weapon, with real live ammunition, in motion, and in addition to accuracy, speed is also measured.
-I was lucky that in 2019, the World Championship in Practical Shooting was organized in Serbia, which was organized by people from SAJ (Special Anti-Terrorist Unit). I immediately liked this sport because in it you have to constantly use your brain and muscles, to be physically and mentally ready. It’s no use if you’ve prepared to the max in the gym if you can’t remember the targets or can’t maintain concentration for four, five, or six hours, which is how long the competition lasts, she points out.
HOMEWORK FOR COLLEAGUES: Miona from the string without mistake hits the target
That Miona Badžević-Anđelković, a former gymnast and a great lover of extreme sports (she is the only test driver of a motor board in Europe, and she also rides a wakeboard), had all the qualities and great talent needed for practical shooting, as evidenced by her results, which at one point she got the nickname – Serbian Lara Croft.
In those years, she won medals in domestic competitions, and international successes arrived because, in a short time, she won gold at international tournaments in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro.
SERBIAN LARA CROFT: Nicknamed because of her looks, even more so because of her skills
Although she established herself with success, Miona was not included in the list of the first Serbian women’s national team in this sport for the current European Championship in Greece, but that did not prevent her from founding the first women’s shooting club „Zmaj ognjeni“ and achieving great results with it.
I dreamed and still dream of a jersey with the national coat of arms, but I had to come to terms with the fact that I could not compete for the Serbian national team. And so in the end, in May 2023, I decided to retire from practical shooting and, as they say, hang up the gun.
SHE ENDED HER CAREER TOO EARLY: But she still found inspiration in weapons
However, the new situation only further motivated Miona to focus her energy on the other side, where she is also well on her way to becoming a champion. Instead of a man’s path, the path of a knight, she took a path that is more suitable for women…
-I directed the energy that I carried inside me into something new and creative – I started to create a dress and fashion details. But since archery was still in my head, I started making those dresses and jewelry from what I encountered every day until then – empty bullet casings that I would shoot during training. That’s how a collection of unique women’s dresses was created in the end, recalls Miona, who was involved in fashion and design before, but used classic materials.
Her original dresses were soon noticed in Serbia, where she appeared at the most famous Serbian arms fair – Partner.
-I exhibited at one stand and everyone was delighted. First, they would approach because they didn’t understand what the dresses were doing at the arms fair, and then when they understood what they were made of, they would start taking pictures and posing. Although I believed that after such positive reactions, the way for further work would be open to me, silence followed, she states.
ARMOR FOR FEMALE KNIGHTS: Unique dresses by Miona Badžević Anđelković
When she had come to terms with the fact that her work would sink into oblivion, an invitation followed, no less than – from America!
–Ranko Ristić, the owner of the company Zastava Arms USA, and the general importer of the Zastava arms factory program from Kragujevac saw my dresses through a friend and invited me to be his guest at the world’s largest arms fair „Shot Show“ in Las Vegas.
And so Miona set out to conquer America without weapons or ammunition, but with more than 20,000 rounds of live ammunition on her unique dresses.
ARTIST & MODEL, ALL IN ONE: At the Shot Show in Las Vegas
I didn’t know what was waiting for me at the border, at customs, because my luggage looked more like the luggage of a terrorist than a fashion designer (laughs). In the end, everything went well, but my biggest surprise was yet to come in Las Vegas. Honestly, I didn’t know what to expect when I got there.
GREAT INTEREST OF AMERICANS: At the arms fair in Belgrade
However, already on the first day of the fair, I could not defend myself from the overwhelming crowd, both female and male, who wanted to take photos with me and my dresses. The fair and the exhibition were not of the sales type, so I received a lot of orders and now I am returning to Serbia to prepare for an attack on the American market, says the former champion in practical shooting, who will soon go to America again, where there are many offers only for dresses, but also other fashion details that have in common that they use one basic detail – bullet casings.
Bullets, which as recently as yesterday were a tool for forging medals at sports competitions for Miona Badžević Anđelković, and today they serve a creative mission in another field, which again leads to the point of this story, which fits into Njegoš’s second thought, which reads:
„Fight does not beat bright weapons, but fight beats the heart of a hero!
In our case, the heart is in the heroine, the knight’s wife, Mione.
Written by: Antonije Kovačević Photo: Private archive, Peter Andersson
Student’s cross as an inspiration
In addition to making attractive dresses and jewelry from shells, our interlocutor uses them to make other artistic and practical things. Among other things, the student cross…
For the first time, I saw the student cross on the dome of the Kom monastery church in Montenegro. At first glance, due to its specific shape, it looked more like an anchor than a cross. That cross left a great impression on me, it seemed familiar to my eyes, engraved in my memory from somewhere before, although I learned more about its history only later, about its connection with the obtaining of autocephaly of our church, as well as the fact that it is also called the cross of Saint Simeon, father of Saint Sava. Before I started making it, I found myself in Kakovo, the site of the Hilandar monastery, where in the sawmill where the woodwork for the monastery is made, I found pieces of olive wood that they could not use, and which I recognized the perfect base for my future crosses. I came back from Greece and then everything started. Now I make them in various arrangements, something just pulls me to devote myself to it, says Miona about her inspiration, then adds:
I reacted similarly to that Nemanjići eagle, whom I call „skinny“. I was tempted to try to immortalize it in my way and I liked it. Now I already have enough exhibits for a nice exhibition, and in addition to these two motifs, I also find some others from Serbian history, as well as symbols of our statehood.
Sports for the training of special forces became a hit in the world!
In the beginning, practical shooting was used to meet the needs for more demanding training of members of the police, and army, especially special units and security services, and later it became popular and developed into a very popular sport that is experiencing expansion in the world.
In competitions, three elements are taken into account for calculating the results: shooting at a paper or metal target, the competitor collecting points in the time measured by a special stopwatch, and using ammunition that must meet the prescribed power standard. Specifically, the aim is to move and shoot down targets, sometimes static, sometimes moving, which is significantly more difficult than when shooting statically.
The smallest permitted caliber for handguns is 9 mm Parabellum, or as it is better known in our country the „long nine“. It is also the most popular caliber used among Serbian competitors, and also in the world.