Judo In Montenegro

6. 4. THE JUDO CLUB “PARTIZAN” – KOTOR
The Judo Club “Partizan“ from Kotor started operating in January
1973. This is what prof. Branko Radujković says about those
beginnings:
“I started working on establishing a judo club in Kotor as soon as I
arrived in Kotor in March 1971. Blažo Marković, who worked in the administration
of the Sport Association “Partizan“, and Jovica Martinović
helped me with this, despite the fact that there was little understanding
for a sport that many hadn’t heard of before. Only football and water
polo were encouraged.
A great contribution to the formation of the club was given by Ratko
Otašević, who started working in Kotor in autumn 1972 and that same
year competed as a “free lancer”, i.e. representing no club. At the time,
I was doing my military service. Otašević started training in January
1973, organising his work within the judo division of the Sport Association
“Partizan”. When I returned, I started coaching (we both did),
and a great deal of children joined as members, as well as a number of
young policemen who were studying in Sremska Kamenica and who
were already experienced competitors. They also won the first medals
at championships of Montenegro. Otašević was a triple junior champion,
whereas Zajim Kriještorac, Božidar Kraljević and Mladen Klikovac
were ranked first once and second several times. The division grew
into a club (bearing the same name, the Judo Club “Partizan”, Kotor)
and in 1975 it contributed to the foundation of the Judo Association of
Montenegro.
The club was a successful host of the SFRY under 14 and junior
championships in 1976; from 1983 onwards it has hosted the Kotor Cup
and in 1984 and 1985, it organised the under 14 interrupublic league
(Kotor, Herceg Novi, Dubrovnik and Trebinje). The club has twinned
with the Judo Club “Lokomotiva” from Vršac (which I founded as well),
which allowed for joint preparations and other forms of cooperation.
The club members competed at the Montenegro, SFRY and FRY
championships, where they achieved great results. The first SFRY
champion from this club was Dejan Popović, the current coach of the
club, who won the title in 1985.
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