Nino Baša, a 20-year-old young man, was born as a person with a 100% disability and uses a wheelchair. He has been playing table tennis since the age of eight and is a member of the URIHO table tennis club for people with disabilities from Zagreb, as well as the Croatian table tennis team for people with disabilities. Nino has repeatedly won the title of the Croatian champion in his category, and worldwide he is on the list of 100 best table tennis players with disabilities in the senior competition, and he is one of the 10 best junior players in his category.
He has won numerous medals all over Europe and the world, as well as the award for the best young athlete with a disability in Zagreb. Given that the young athlete needs large investments for the equipment needed for his practices and participation in competitions, without which it is impossible to make any progress, the Foundation “Nema predaje” has recognized the efforts and work of this prominent young athlete and approved a donation of HRK 20,000. The donation was used to purchase training equipment, as well as a new ping pong table at the Uriho Club.
During the autumn, we had the opportunity to visit the URIHO association, where we were greeted by Nino Baša in an extremely pleasant and beautiful environment, along with the director of the institution Josip Držaić and several employees and representatives. On behalf of the foundation, the event was attended by a Member of the Board of Trustees Iva Cigrovskij and the administrator of the Foundation’s office Antea Šapina, who presented the work and mission of the Dinamo Foundation during the visit.
In a friendly atmosphere, the director of the institution, Mr. Josip Držaić, thanked the Foundation for the donation and especially for the new ping pong table where Nino and other members of the institution will be able to practice, including the bronze winning Croatian Paralympian Helena Dretar Karić. Among other attendees, there were the football icon Maca Maradona and Dragan Rakić, the president of the Croatian Para Table Tennis Association, as well as Mirela Šikoronja Ivančin, the secretary of the Zagreb Sports Association for Persons with Disabilities and the coach of the Croatian Table Tennis National Team for Persons with Disabilities.
At the end of the event and the round table, the table tennis players with disabilities played several matches under the leadership of the coach Jadranka Blagus with representatives of the GNK Dinamo Foundation “Nema predaje”. They were joined by the table tennis players Đurđica Mrkonjić and Nikola Horvan, who are big Dinamo fans and regularly attend the matches of the blue team at the Maksimir stadium.
The URIHO organisation has 507 employees, of which 300 are persons with disabilities. URIHO makes a great contribution to the sports for persons with disabilities, since over the years they have taken notice of all the sports` needs.
The Foundation “Nema predaje” hopes and believes, that this donation is only the beginning of a beautiful cooperation and story!
You can read an additional article about this event on the following link:
