Miodrag Zeljkovic (Mickey) earned his Fencing Master
degree at the University for Sport and Physical Education
of Novi Sad in Serbia in 2000. He received a scholarship
from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for the
International fencing specialization at Semmelweis
University, Faculty of Physical Education and Sport
Sciences in Budapest, Hungary (his professors were Bognar
Gabor for epee, Istvan Lukovich for foil and Laslo Sepesi
for saber). He was the Five Time Serbian National Champion
of in all weapons. Mickey has been professionally coaching
beginner thru adult in all weapons for 13 years. His
students have won numerous National and International
titles. In 2004 Mickey participated in the Olympic training
camp from July 17 thru August 8 with the epee national
team. One of his best junior students, Smiljka Rodic, was
ranked 17th in the world. Another student was Petar
Toshkov, who received gold medals at the Bulgarian National
Championships, as well as silver at the International
Tournament category “A” in Teheran in 2005. In 2005 Mickey
became the Kuwait National Coach training at the Salmiya
Fencing club. His students won gold, silver and bronze
medals at the Kuwait National Championships in all three
weapons. Mickey’s club was considered one of the best
fencing clubs in the country. The 2006 Kuwaiti National
Womens team , under his tutelage, took 2 bronze medals in
Sabre and Epee at the Arabic Games in Cairo. Mickey is one
of a few coaches in the world who has acxhieved excellence
in the world of wheelchair fencing, His student Tariq
Al-Qallaf from Kuwait placed first in epee and foil at the
World Cup in Torino, Italy (2006.), In Montreal, Tariq
placed first in foil and second in epee at the 2006
Wheelchair fencing World Cup.). In the Malaysian World Cup,
Tariq continued taking first place titles in epee and
second in foil. At the 2007 World Cup in Valencia, Spain
Tariq captured first in foil and third in epee. Tariq
maintains a top international ranking and will be competing
in Beijing at the Olympics.
