The public reception for the national team of Bosnia and Herzegovina in sitting volleyball, as well as for Ismail Barlov, who won silver medals at the Paralympic Games in Paris, was organized on Monday in Sarajevo City Hall.
The reception for BiH Paralympians was organized by the City of Sarajevo and the Ministry of Culture and Sports of Sarajevo Canton. Although it was originally planned in front of the Sarajevo Cathedral, the reception was moved to the Town Hall due to rain.
Thirteen-year-old Bosnian paraswimmer Ismail Barlov won a silver medal at the Paralympic Games in Paris on September 4. Barlov reached the podium in the 50-meter breaststroke event. In the final race, he took second place with a time of 1:02.74, and only the representative of Mexico, Arnulfo Kastorena, was better than him.
Barlov, who carried the BiH flag at the closing ceremony of the Paralympic Games, said today that winning an Olympic medal was a dream come true for him and thanked everyone for their support.
Ismail’s coach Amel Kapo said that the boy had been preparing intensively for the last year and a half, while many of his peers went to school and spent their vacations playing.
“In a year and a half, we managed to make a European record holder, a senior European champion and a medalist at the Paralympic Games,” emphasized Kapo.
The national team of Bosnia and Herzegovina won the silver medal in sitting volleyball after defeating Iran in the final. The Iranians won 3:1, in sets it was 22:25, 30:28, 25:16, 25:14.
The coach of the BiH national team in sitting volleyball Ifet Mahmutović said that the support of the BiH public in the semi-finals was a great encouragement, and he apologized for not being able to win the gold.
Captain Sabahudin Delalić, for whom this is the seventh medal at the Paralympic Games, said that this medal was different from the others, thanks to little Ismail Barlov.
“Ismail took us to the final. If it weren’t for him, we might have lost to Germany,” Delalić said, pointing out that his team had reached the “top” and that the 13-year-old boy had the opportunity to win even more.
Yesterday’s extinguishing of the Paralympic flame officially closed the 17th Summer Paralympic Games in Paris, in which approximately 4,400 athletes from 168 countries participated, BHRT writes.
