Montenegro reached its first final on the opening day of competition at the Mediterranean Games in Taranto. Miloš Milenković finished eighth in the 50m butterfly with a time of 24.25. He had been faster in the heats, clocking 23.86, while his personal best and national record stands at 23.67.
“This is my first Mediterranean Games final. I could have done better; my reaction was very poor, but I cannot be dissatisfied. Tomorrow I have another race, the 100m, which is the event I have prepared for the most,” said Milenković.
Coach Danijela Franeta was pleased with the final appearance, while acknowledging that Miloš is capable of more. “We had quietly hoped for this, at least one final. Miloš is young, and we felt that reaching a final would mean a lot for the continuation of his career. And it happened. He had a fantastic race in the heats. There are still certain technical mistakes we are working on, and I hope they will no longer happen. In the final, because of strong nerves, he swam worse than in the heats. We are not dissatisfied, and the competition is not over yet. Miloš has the 100m butterfly heats tomorrow; we are hoping for another final and to round off a fantastic season,” Franeta said.
Boxer Tomislav Đinović, competing in the up to 60 kg category, was defeated in the round of 16 by Spain’s Marin Hernandez. “My opponent was a world silver medallist in the younger categories. I can say that he was better in the first round, while in the second and third I was attacking and had more initiative. But that is how it is, the judges made their decision. We move on,” Đinović said.
Enes Dushku completed his taekwondo appearance following a defeat to Greece’s Apostolos Panagopoulos. “I was not lucky because the Greek is among the best competitors in the European rankings. This is only my first season in senior competition,” Dushku said.
Montenegro’s men’s padel pair, Gianluca Lamberto Pelonzi and Luka Petranović, were defeated by Mohamed Alami and Rada El Amrani of Morocco, 6:1, 6:0. Montenegro’s padel team is making its Mediterranean Games debut, having previously competed in two European Championship qualifying cycles. Montenegro is represented in Italy by Jelena Matijević, Ivanka Simonović, Luka Petranović and Đanluka Lamberto Pelonci.
“First of all, this is a great experience for us. It was difficult in our opening match because our opponents are much more experienced and better coordinated. We gave everything we had, but it was not enough. I am sorry because I think we could have done a little better and won a few more games, but that is how it is,” said padel team captain Gianluca Lamberto Pelonzi.
Montenegro’s bocce representatives also completed the first day of competition. Sanela Brkan and Gracija Stjepčević will continue tomorrow in the precision shooting event, while Ela Stjepčević and Ilija Belan have completed their Mediterranean Games appearances in speed shooting. Belan finished the competition in fifth place, while Ela placed sixth.
Gracija Stjepčević finished the first day of the precision shooting competition in third place among 11 competitors. “I know I can do much better, but all the little details need to come together. If I repeat this result today, or do slightly better, I will be close to the semi-finals. I hope I can do it,” Stjepčević said.
PHOTO and VIDEO gallery – Team MNE @ Taranto 2026 – https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjD2GR8
