The Ministry of Sports today organized a ceremonial awarding of 500 “Sports Hope” scholarships for young talented athletes, members of the national sports teams, at the National Opera and Ballet in Skopje.
The event was held under the motto “Support Worth Gold”, and Minister Borko Ristovski, in his address, emphasized the commitment of the Ministry of Sports to support young talents, providing the necessary conditions for their development and progress, as well as continuous support for strengthening and raising Macedonian sports to a higher level.
– My message to all of you is to never give up. You will always have a friend in the Ministry of Sports because your desire is to engage in sports, and our obligation is to respect that desire and support you on the path to success, on the path to good results, on the path to promoting Macedonia, at home and internationally. And what is very important to me, you are the foundation, you are part of the Ministry of Sports, you are part of the state and society and you promote true values. I congratulate all the scholarship winners and once again I can say that you will always have the support of the Ministry of Sports and from me personally as the Minister. Remain who you are, be persistent, persistent in your intentions, be honest on the path you have decided to take and success will surely come, sooner or later – emphasized Minister Borko Ristovski.
Ristovski also announced that he will strive in the future to increase the assistance that Macedonian sports hopefuls receive.
Financial support from the state through the “Sports Hope” project is received by athletes up to the age of 20 who are Macedonian national representatives, members of national teams up to this age category in all sports. The decree for awarding this type of scholarship allows all athletes, in all sports – Olympic and non-Olympic, Paralympic and non-Paralympic, to be equal in the distribution of funds from this project.
As part of the ceremonial awarding of the 500 scholarships for young athletes, a panel discussion was held on the topic “Support in sports is the key to success”, at which taekwondo player Dejan Georgievski, Olympic medalist from the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, and skier Jana Atanasovska, who made history as the first Macedonian to compete in the World Ski Cup, shared their experiences on the road to success, and a motivating message to young athletes was sent by sports psychologist, Prof. Lence Aleksovska Velichkovska.
-Support means a lot to all athletes. It means a lot when you know that someone is behind you. When you don’t think about whether and how you will get to a competition or where you will train, but focus only on the work – stressed Dejan Georgievski.
-Finances used to be a big problem for athletes. I didn’t have any support before and it was difficult for me. Sometimes the funds we receive may not be enough to meet all our needs, but it means a lot when we know that someone is following and appreciating our progress – said Jana Atanasovska.
Professor Lenče Aleksovska Velichkovska pointed out the principles that young athletes should follow in order to achieve their goal.
– The path of athletes is difficult, but there are some principles that you should adhere to, regardless of whether you are a karateka, judoist, football player, handball player… First, you need to love what you do. Athletes are special and need to follow their own path, to fight with themselves, and then with the challenges – emphasized Aleksovska Velichkovska.
The event was enriched with their performance by the world junior champion in hip-hop, Mila Srbinoska, and the world champion in modern ballet, Andi Ismaili.
