SPORTS IN 2003

FOOTBALL

Sasa Ilic (Partizan) and David Beckham (Real) challenge for the ball

Nigerian defender Taribo West signed a contract for Partizan Belgrade (More). Serbia-Montenegro was defeated by Germany in the international friendly match in Bremen (More). Partizan won championship title for the second time in a row, while Sartid surprisingly beat Red Star to earn national cup. Red Star Belgrade have named former stalwart Slavoljub Muslin as the team's new coach (More). England beat Serbia-Montenegro in the international friendly match in Leicester (More). Mateja Kezman became top scorer in the Dutch league with 35 goals for PSV Eindhoven (More). Polish international Tomasz Rzasa and Ljubinko Drulovic signed for Partizan Belgrade. Partizan's 20-year-old striker Danko Lazovic completed transfer to Dutch team Feyenoord for a fee of €6 million. Ilija Petkovic was named as Serbia-Montenegro's new national football team manager to replace Dejan Savicevic, who quit after his team's humiliating 2-1 Euro 2004 qualifying defeat against Azerbaijan in Baku. Friendly match between Croatian club Dinamo Zagreb and Serbia's Partizan Belgrade was stopped for fans' riot (More). Both Serbia-Montenegro's teams eliminated in the second round of Intertoto Cup (More). Manchester United's Swedish midfielder Bojan Djordjic moved to Red Star Belgrade (More). Serbo-Montenegrin international Savo Milosevic has joined RC Celta de Vigo on a season's loan from Parma AC (More). Partizan reached UEFA Champion's League (More). Paris St Germain have signed Serbia & Montenegro midfielder Branko Boskovic from Red Star Belgrade , and veteran midfield player Vladimir Jugovic has joined Austrian club VfB Admira Wacker Mödling on a two-year contract. Serbia-Montrenegro missed the chance to qualify to EURO 2004 after a 1-1 draw to Italy. UEFA fined the Football association of Serbia and Montenegro, Red Star Belgrade and Serbian defender Sinisa Mihajlovic. Dragan Dzajic has been voted the best player in Serbia and Montenegro over the past 50 years (More). Eindhoven police have thwarted a plan to kidnap PSV star striker Mateja Kezman (More). National team advanced to European Under-21 Championship finals (More). Red Star was eliminated in the UEFA Cup second round (More). Serbia&Montenegro was grouped with Spain, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Lithuania and San Marino for the 2006 World Football Cup preliminary round (More). Partizan Belgrade ended its competition in the last place of the Champions' League Group F (More). Lothar Matthaus was named the new coach of Hungary days after he surprisingly resigned as coach of Partizan Belgrade (More).

BASKETBALL

Dejan Bodiroga (Barcelona)

Sacramento Kings forward Predrag Peja Stojakovic won another 3-point championship (More). Former European star Drazen Dalipagic has been proposed for election to the Basketball Hall of Fame (More). Partizan's coach Dusan Vujosevic was named as new general manager of the men's basketball national team (More). FMP Zeleznik won national cup (More). Red Star was defeated in the semifinal of the Adriatic league final-four tournament (More). Partizan defended their champions' title with the third victory to complete a sweep of the FMP Zeleznik (More). Hemofarm won fourth place at the FIBA Champions Cup Final Four (More). Serbian star Dejan Bodiroga scored 20 points as FC Barcelona won its first ever Euroleague title with a victory over Italy's Benetton Treviso (More). Divac's and Stojakovic's Sacramento was defeated by Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Western conference semifinal series (More). Skipper Fortitudo Pallacanestro signed a three-year contract with Serbian point guard Milos Vujanic from Partizan Belgrade (More). Serbian 18-year-old center Darko Milicic became the highest-drafted European in NBA history (More). Serbia and Montenegro dominated at European championships for cadets and cadettes (More). Detroit Pistons center Zeljko Rebraca has undergone successful surgery to correct the irregular heartbeat (More). Men' national team took 6th place at European championships in Sweden, while women's team won 8th place at EURO 2003 in Greece. CSKA won "Basketball Champions' Cup" in Novi Sad (More). Igor Rakocevic signed with Red Star Belgrade (More), while former Unicaja's forward Milan Gurovic joined Vojvodina Novi Sad. Serbia&Montenegro will play Argentina, Spain, China, New Zealand and Italy in the preliminary round of the men's basketball tournament at the Athens Olympics (More). Phoenix rookie Zarko Cabarkapa broke his right wrist after he was pushed by Dallas' Danny Fortson (More). Predrag Stojakovic was named NBA player of the month, for games played from the beginning of the season through November (More). Predrag-Peja Stojakovic scored a career-high 41 points, as the Sacramento Kings beat the Memphis Grizzlies (More). Triumphing over Reflex, Red Star, after 28 years, won the national cup for men (More).

VOLLEYBALL

Ivan Miljkovic, national team's top scorer

Serbia and Montenegro won bronze medal at the Girls Under-18 European Volleyball Championship (More). Men's national team was defeated by Brazil in the World League final (More). Ljuba Travica was named as Serbia-Montenegro's new national volleyball team manager to replace Veselin Vukovic, who quit after World League final tournament. Serbia-Montenegro won fourth place at men's European Championship in Germany (More). Women's team was eliminated in the preliminary round of the European championship in Turkey (More). National men's team gained nine victories from 11 games to reach third place at the 2003 World Cup (More). Jedinstvo Uzice won national cup for women for eighth time in 11 years (More). Having beaten Red Star in final, Vojvodina Novi Sad won national cup for men (More)

HANDBALL

Men's national team took second place at the Nations' Cup in Belgrade (More). Yugoslavia took the 8th place at the World Handball Championship in Portugal (More). Buducnost Podgorica failed to reach semifinal of Champions' League for women (More). Partizan Belgrade took championship title, while Lovcen Cetinje won national cup. Having beaten Finland, men's team advanced to 2004 European Championship (More). Women's national team eliminated in the main round of the World Handball Championship in Croatia (More).

WATER POLO

Vlada Vujasinovic, spiritus movens of the national team

Serbia-Montenegro was the dominating team at the Tristar 2003 tournament in Kranj (More). Having beaten Croatia in overtime, Serbia-Montenegro won European Championship in Slovenia (More). Russia won Belgrade international water polo tournament "Tasmajdan Trophy". (More). Serbia-Montenegro took third place at the world championship (More). Junior national team won European champions' title for the fifth time in a row (More). Junior national team won world champions' title (More). Serbia-Montenegro took fourth place at FINA World League (More). Partizan, Jadran and Primorac advanced to the Euroleague top 16 (More).

MORE SPORTS

Swimmer Milorad Cavic set world record in 100m fly

High-jumper Dragutin Topic won the 4th place at the 9th World Indoor Championships in Athletics (More). Serbia-Montenegro took three bronze medals at the European Table Tennis Championships in Italy (More). Olivera Jevtic won the women's race of the Fortis Rotterdam Marathon (More). Milos Zivkovic, of Serbia-Montenegro, won gold medal at the European Karate Championship in Bremen, Germany (More). 50th European wrestling championship for seniors in Greco-Roman stile was held in Belgrade (More). The 43rd "Tour de Serbia" ran six stages, covering 900 kilometers, finishing in Nis. Jacek Valcek from Poland finished first with a time of 20:03,17 hours. Nikola Sjekloca won bronze medal at the 12th Senior World Boxing Championship in Bangkok, Thailand (More). Serbia-Montenegro's rowers finished third in the men's cox fours at the U-23 world rowing championship in Belgrade, while Vanja Komlenac, Marko Travcevc and Djordje Ilic captured gold medal in men's cox pairs at the junior world championship in Athens, Greece. Olivera Jevtic won eighth place in the women's marathon race at the 9th IAAF World Championships in Athletics (More). Mara Kovacevic, Serbia-Montenegro's national team member in category +78 kg, has won bronze medal at the World Judo Championship in Osaka, Japan. Kenyans dominated Belgrade marathon (More). Jelena Dokic defeated in Swisscom Challenge final (More). Olivera Jevtic finished ninth in NY Marathon (More). Milorad Cavic set world record at European swimming championships (More). Snezana Kostic finished second in junior women's cross country race at European Championships (More). Eva Tapai and Gabriella Feher won silver medal in girls' doubles at the 1st World Junior Table Tennis Championships in Santiago (More).