The crew of Banja Luka’s Dajak Club, consisting of Dragan Babić, Igor Kuzmanović, Nebojša Tadić, and Igor Kuzmanović, claimed first place in the descent discipline and thus topped the overall standings at the World Rafting Championship hosted this year by Banja Luka and the Vrbas River.
“It is a great pleasure to be the best in the world. We had an excellent race today and deservedly won the gold in the descent, which was enough to be the best in the overall championship standings. That was our main goal in this championship. I must say that we regret not winning a medal in the open category today as well. We were so close with two fourth places yesterday in the slalom and today in the descent. I would especially like to commend our young men in the under-19 category who won a silver medal today, and thus they ended up with a bronze medal in the overall championship standings. We won more medals than two years ago, achieving our goal,” said Dragan Babić, captain of the Banja Luka Dajak Club and the BiH national team.
The biggest surprise of the championship was the Dajak Club’s crew in the under-19 category. They unexpectedly secured silver in the sprint, bronze in the slalom, and silver in the descent, which earned them a bronze medal in the overall standings.
In the open category, Brazil’s national team took the gold. They triumphed in the descent today, having already won in the sprint and slalom, and thus claimed the title of world champions in the open category.
“We are very satisfied with our achievements. We showed that we are in great shape, worked hard, and came to Banja Luka fully prepared. Today’s victory in the descent demonstrated that we are equally skilled in both technical disciplines and descent. We are truly pleased with the medals we won in Banja Luka,” said Eduardo Degrandi, captain of the Brazilian team.
“Everything went as planned,” said Aleksandar Pastir, president of the Rafting Club Kanyon and director of the Championship. “A big thank you to all the volunteers, nearly 200 of them, members of the RK Kanyon, members of the Armed Forces of BiH, and everyone who participated in organizing the Championship. We once again proved that we can organize even the most demanding sporting events, such as the World Championship,” concluded Aleksandar Pastir.
It is worth noting that over 400 competitors from 20 countries participated in the championship, and the home teams won a total of 7 medals across various disciplines, including two golds, four silvers, and one bronze.
The competitors from the Czech Republic and Japan had the most success over the four competition days. This championship will support Krupa na Vrbas’s candidacy for the top 20 most beautiful villages in the world.
Source: Glas Srpske
