Bosnia and Herzegovina national sitting volleyball team
The Bosnia and Herzegovina men's national sitting volleyball team represents Bosnia and Herzegovina in international sitting volleyball competitions and friendly matches. Bosnia is one of the dominant forces in sitting volleyball worldwide, alongside Iran. The team won a bronze medal, during ECVD European Championships in 1997 in Tallinn. It took nearly two decades later for the nation to win a medal outside the sport of sitting volleyball when Amel Tuka won bronze during 2015 World Championships in Athletics.
The team is the most decorated in Bosnia and Herzegovina sport having won 2 paralympic volleyball gold medals, 4 paralympic silver medals, 3 World Cup titles, and 9 won European Championships straight. The team won World titles and European titles either side of winning Paralympics Gold in 2004 Athens. The team is a member of the world and European sitting volleyball governing bodies.
It is governed by the Association of sitting volleyball of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Until 1992, Bosnian players like Ševko Nuhanović were part of the Yugoslav national sitting volleyball team.
History
Prior to 1992, during the Yugoslavia days, the team started to take shape. Players were part of Sarajevo based Uporni Sitting Volleyball Club which were champions of Yugoslavia three times in a row. The Bosnia and Herzegovina men's sitting volleyball team includes athletes who were deeply affected by the Bosnian War. Due to the large number of people injured in the conflict, the country started to invest more in Paralympic sports. Captain Sabahudin Delalić fought for the Bosnian army and lost part of his right leg after a wall fell on him. Safet Alibašić lost one of his legs when he stepped on a landmine.The team’s first major tournament participation was the 1995 European championship. During its qualification phase in early December 1994, the team, traveled to Zagreb on a bus riddled with bullet holes in temperatures of 17 degrees below zero. Bosnia along with Austria were the only nations to travel to play Croatia in the qualification tournament. Croatia finished undefeated with victories over Austria 3:0 and Bosnia. Bosnia beat Austria, however all 3 nations qualified for the finals.
The team made their Paralympic Games debut at Sydney 2000 and won silver. There have been seven total Paralympic podium finishes in sitting volleyball for Bosnia and Herzegovina. They were the only medals in Olympic and Paralympic Games as an independent nation until Ismail Barlov’s silver in 50m breaststroke para swimming in 2024. The 800 metres distance runner Amel Tuka holds another prestigious medal for Bosnia and Herzegovina, a bronze at 2015 World Championships in Athletics in Beijing.
On 21 June 2014, Edin Džeko congratulated the BiH men's national sitting volleyball team after they won 2014 Sitting Volleyball World Championships title, stating "You are our pride and inspiration".
On 10 September 2012, Basketball Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina congratulated the BiH sitting volleyball team upon their paralympic gold medal win at 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, saying "You are a pride of our nation",
as did NFSBiH (normalization committee) with Ivica Osim at the head.
Success formula
Height, experience and a strong club league are key to success in sitting volleyball. 80% of the Bosnian national team players come from Sarajevo based and Europe's top two sitting volleyball club sides; SDI Spid and OKI Fantomi. Height was a critical aspect of success for the Iranian national team winning gold over Bosnia at the Rio 2016 Paralympics due to the height advantage of tallest Paralympian Morteza Mehrzadselakjani at 2.46m , giving his team an advantage in his ability to both block at the net and fire over returns from a much higher trajectory. In the Rio final, Mehrzadselakjani was top scorer for Iran with 28 points. Safet Alibašić top scored for BIH with 16 points and the fastest serve came from Adnan Manko at 68 km/h. Sport investment, financial backing and sprint velocities are other key factors.
Style of play
Bosnia plays an attacking style of volleyball.
Nickname
A popular nickname for Bosnian sport players and/or teams is the Zmajevi or Dragons in English alluding to the famous Bosnian general Husein Gradaščević who fought for Bosnian independence and who was known as the "Dragon of Bosnia". In foreign media, they are sometimes referred to as the Golden Lilies, in reference to the golden lily featured on the coat of arms of the influential Bosnian medieval Kotromanić dynasty.
Sponsorship
The team is sponsored by Sarajevo based telecommunication company BH Telecom d.d. since 1996.
Honours
Seniors Competitive record
European Championships
- Bosnia played 1 extra opponent in group stage of 2017 championship while Russia/Ukraine/Croatia played 1 less.
Minor tournaments
Note: WOVD Intercontinental Cup tournaments serve as Paralympic qualifiers.In 2005 Sarajevo competition; club Sdi Spid faced Iran in the final.
| Year | Tournament | Position | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 PlayersPlayers called up for 2016 Summer Paralympics:Head coach: Mirza Hrustemović
|
