Our Tankmen in Biathlon Semi-Finals
Sunday, 5.8.2018 | International Co-operation
Serbian tankmen are going to compete in the semi-finals of the Tank Biathlon which takes place in the framework of the International Military Games at Albino training ground in the vicinity of Moscow.
Our crew that competed in the last, third qualifying race, which opened our way to the semi-finals consisted of: tank commander Second Lieutenant Dušan Stevančev, marksman Corporal Branislav Grumić and driver Corporal Nebojša Maksimović.
Following the qualification, the team leader of the Serbian Armed Forces Lieutenant Colonel Saša Stojiljković stated that the safe driving and very good aiming had brought the Serbian tankmen to the expected result.
- We know that all our tankmen and all the members of the Serbian Armed Forces are closely following the competition and they expect from us to adequately represent them. I promise on behalf of the team that everyone will give their best to justify the confidence that they have in us and that everybody will try to represent the Serbian Armed Forces and our country in a dignified manner – underlined Lieutenant Colonel Stojiljković.
The best 12 teams qualified in the semi-finals out of 22 countries which had their crews in the tank biathlon, counting the overall time from all of the three qualifying individual races. The best overall score before the semi-final race is achieved by the team of the Russian Federation followed by the teams from China and Belarus.
The semi-final race, in which the tenkman from the Serbian Armed Forces will participate together with Belarus, Kazakhstan and India, is scheduled on Thursday, 9th August. Unlike the qualifications, all three tank crews of every country are going to compete in the semi-finals in one race one after the other in a relay race. Four teams with the best time in the semi-final races are going to qualify for the finals, which is on the programme on Saturday, 11th August.
Today’s day of the competition was viewed by Defence Attaché of the Republic of Serbia in the Russian Federation Colonel Budimir Gajić and his deputy Lieutenant Colonel Jovica Bosančić who conveyed to our tankman the congratulations of Minister of Defence Aleksandar Vulin and wished them luck in the competition.
The Serbian military athletes achieved successes in other events as well. In the competitions in table tennis and tug-of-war, our representatives won the second place, and in weight lifting they took the fourth place.
In the tug-of-war, the winner was decided by centimetres. The competition system implied every team competing with each other, and two victories were required. The Serbian athletes defeated China, Russia and Pakistan by 2:0. In the decisive match for the first place, centimetres decided the winner. In the final score Belarus was the first, Serbia second and Russia third.
In the event of Engineer formula, Serbian “engineers” won the third place, behind Russia on the first and China and Belarus who shared the second place.
The stand of the Republic of Serbia, set up in the House of Friendship, in direct vicinity of the competition training ground, also attracts great interest of the visitors of the International military games and Tank biathlon. The citizens of Russia and other guests from the world, with great attention and in large numbers follow the Tank biathlon, and they observe the souvenirs and exhibition with great interest.
The exhibiting area is designed in a way that it reflects cultural-historical features of interest of our country. The guests of the stand pay particular attention to presented literature, especially the titles in Russian language which cover common topics, closeness and values that our two peoples share. The majority of the countries which participate in the games have their exhibitions in the House of Friendship.
