Belgrade, Serbia, July 22, 2009 – The Serbian National Men’s Team that won the gold medal at the Sydney Olympic Games was honored on Wednesday in Belgrade ahead of Serbia’s World League match against the USA. The gold-medal winning players received a standing ovation from the fans at Beogradska Arena, while the ceremony was broadcast live by Serbia’s national broadcasting company, RTS.

Vladimir Batez, Slobodan Kovac, Vasa Mijic, Nikola Grbic, Vladimir Grbic, Andrija Geric, Goran Vujevic, Ivan Miljkovic, Veljko Petkovic, Igor Vusurovic, were coached at the time by Zoran Gajic. Two players from the team, Slobodan Boskan and Dula Mester, were not present at the ceremony.

Escorted by team manager Slobodan Milosevic and the complete technical staff that shared the victory in Australia, the team was greeted by FIVB President Jizhong Wei and the Serbian Volleyball Federation President Aleksandar Boricic.

Sydney gold medalists Nikola Grbic, Andrija Geric and Ivan Miljkovic still play for the national team, which is taking part in the 2009 World League Final Round from July 22-26.