On the first day of the Games of Small States of Europe, the first medals for Montenegro arrived - seven in total, two of which were gold. Athlete Daniel Furtula won first place in the discus throw, with a result of 62.79 meters. In the same discipline, Darko Pešić came sixth (47.47). The judo players brought home six awards. Gold was won by Nikola Gardašević (up to 81 kg), who achieved three victories, and in the match for gold, defeated Marko Gnamien from Monaco by ippon. "Three nice, not easy victories, especially the semi-final. Everyone is preparing seriously today; every competition is demanding. I'm happy about the success, this is my second gold medal from the GSSE," said Nikola Gardašević. Silver went to Emil Sinanović (up to 66 kg), who was defeated in the final by Cypriot Jorgos Bajrašvilija, as well as Ivana Šunjević (up to 70 kg), who lost the battle for first place to Florin Sule from Monaco, and Danilo Pantić (up to 100 kg), who was bettered in the final by Cypriot Jorgos Krusaniotakis. Bronzes were won by Milana Stevanović (up to 52 kg) and Tamara Gardašević (up to 63 kg). Milana won the fight for third place against Veronika Komandere from Iceland, and Tamara defeated Lie Povedano from Andorra. Our two national basketball teams won their opening games, both against teams from Luxembourg. Montenegro's women's basketball team won 64:52. By playing better in the third and fourth quarters, after making a lot of offensive errors and misses in the first two (after 20 minutes it was 27:24), the "red" team secured the win. The highest scorer was Dragana Živković with 16, Božica Mujović scored 15 points. In the second match, Montenegro plays against the hosts Malta, tomorrow (Wednesday) from 16.45. "I wanted more for the first match. I saw some things repeating from the control matches against Serbia, and that is that our tall players lack experience, and therefore it takes patience and time to progress. We will work on the shortcomings to correct them before the Eurobasket," said coach Jelena Škerović. The men's team was better than Luxembourg 76:72 at the premiere. Our team led 50:30 until halftime, but the opponent seriously threatened in the end, reducing the lag to just four points, 35 seconds before the end. However, the boys led by Goran Bošković preserved the win. The highest scorer in our team was Filip Anđušić with 19 points, Pavle Đurišić scored 12, Balša Živanović 10... "We beat a team that plays qualifiers for big competitions, and we have been together for just a week. I congratulate the guys, they were combative, and it was really difficult to expect them to play 40 minutes without oscillations," said coach Bošković. Montenegro plays against Malta tomorrow (Wednesday) from 19h. The sailors raced in one regatta today - Milivoj Dukić finished third, and Ilija Marković seventh. They have three regattas waiting for them tomorrow. Swimmer Jovana Kuljača achieved her best personal result at 100 meters freestyle (1:01.96), but she did not manage to qualify for the final. Jovana will compete in the 50-meter freestyle on Thursday. "Although she is in full training and the World Championship awaits us in July, I am more than satisfied with Jovana's current form," said coach Danijela Franeta. The table tennis players did not succeed on the first day in the team competition. Filip Radović and Filip Radulović were defeated by Malta (3:1) and Luxembourg (3:1), while Ivona Petrić and Simona Perović lost to Monaco (3:0) and Malta (3:0).
