The jubilee 30th All-Croatian Competition for War Veterans with Disabilities will take place from Friday to Sunday, 9 to 11 October, in Mali Lošinj, which is for the fourth time hosting the competition in a row. The competition will be attended by more than a thousand participants, divided into 22 teams.
The teams will come from all Croatian counties, as well as from the Association of Croatian Veterans of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (HVIDR HVO). They will compete in nine sports disciplines: bowls, blind bowling, electronic ping-pong, bowling, table tennis, shooting, and fishing. The opening ceremony of the 30th edition will take place under the high patronage of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Croatia, Andrej Plenković, with the co-patronage of Ana Kučić, the Mayor of Mali Lošinj, and the support of the Ministry of Veterans. The opening will take place on Friday, 9 October, at the Republic of Croatia Square in Mali Lošinj at 15:00, after which the first discipline will take place – the race in a wheelchair.
The champions are defending their title – the team of the Croatian Veterans' Association (HVIDR) from Zagreb. The second place last year was taken by the Brod-Posavina County, and the third by the Zagreb County. In the overall ranking, the HVIDR of the Virovitica-Podravina County took fifth place, with five silver medals in fishing and blind bowling, and one bronze medal in shooting.
The competitions have been held for more than thirty years, and so far the hosts have been Mali Lošinj, Makarska, Vukovar, Mostar, Knin, Osijek, Varaždin, Šibenik, Pula, Split, Zadar, Virovitica, Poreč and Zagreb. The President of the HVIDRH is Josip Đakić, a member of the Croatian Parliament and the President of the Croatian Parliament's Committee for War Veterans.
In Mali Lošinj, the 26th regular session of the HVIDRH will also be held, along with a conference on promoting the values of the Homeland War and improving the protection of Croatian veterans, as well as a number of other lectures and educational events. As part of the "Green Power of Veterans" project, the products of the family farms of the veterans of the HVIDRH and the members of the HVIDRH from several counties and the city of Zagreb will be presented.
