Minister of Sports Nikola Janović: Our priorities are children and normative framework

Podgorica, Montenegro (19 December 2016) -- Minister of Sports Nikola Janović held earlier today the first press conference, at which he spoke about the priorities of the newly established ministry.

"The first priority is the children. I want to get more children involved in sports. Competition system in schools is of high importance. I will visit cities and schools to see what problems physical education teachers are facing. We should identify talented children whose parents cannot afford the practice of sport," the Minister of Sports explained.

He added that another priority is creating the new strategic framework, namely adopting the national programme for the development of sports for the next four years, as a key strategic document defining policies for the development of sports in Montenegro. He said that the existing Law on Sports is deficient in many respects, therefore, it is necessary to adopt a new one.

Minister Janović also said that the existing solution in financing sports is not well defined:

"One who thinks that we only need to chase medals is missing the point. We must first create conditions and athletes, and medals then come as a result and award”.

When asked by journalists whether the Ministry of Sports will be dealing with incidents at sports stadiums, Minister Janović said that it would definitely be a topic.

The same response followed the question of journalists about game fixing.

"This and other issues will be addressed together with the relevant institutions," Minister of Sport of Montenegro Nikola Janović underlined.

Asked whether it was more difficult for him to be an athlete and team captain or now the Minister, Nikola Janović noted that every job is difficult in its own way, that this job bears a new accountability and that he aims to make the sports system more regulated than it is now.