Sport is a powerful tool for breaking down barriers and promoting the inclusion of disadvantaged groups and the #BeInclusive EU Sport Awards, organised by the European Commission Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture, recognises organisations using the power of sport to build a more inclusive society.
The 2018 #BeInclusive EU Sport Awards invited all organisations in Europe– public or private, commercial or not-for-profit – that have successfully developed sport projects aimed at social inclusion to enter their initiatives.
The jury received 111 submissions and picked the Fuji project from Croatia as one of three winners.
Marina Draskovic, President of club and Fuji Project, said: “In my opinion this is a huge success both for Croatian judo and Croatian sport for people with disabilities. One of the winners collects around 8000 members, one winner project is from Finland, another from Germany and then there's us, a judo project from a small country with poor economy but great energy.
“I believe that we won their hearts and that's the main reason that we found ourselves within such great and respectable projects. As a main person that runs this project I can say that my members are true inspiration, they are truly passionate about judo and judo gives them strength for all difficulties they face in day to day life.
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"They feel really proud about this award, in their eyes this is equal of winning some great medal on European or World judo championship. We are recognized by the European Commission and at moment nothing beats this feeling!
“Vito, a Fuji member commented that we all probably still aren't aware how huge this award is. Mia and Lana waited for us at the airport and Fuji parents prepared us a cake so we had a little celebration after the training session.”
Find out more about the club at https://jkosifuji.hr/eng/aboutus/