Dai Le (Fowler, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

On Sunday 25 February I had the privilege of attending the 25th anniversary celebration of the Obilic Basketball Club at our local park in Western Sydney. This club, renowned as the Serbian basketball club within the Serbian community, holds a special place in the hearts of the nearly 7,000 Serbian constituents within my Fowler electorate. I was truly inspired to see the passion and dedication of the club's founding fathers, president Stevan Sipka, Milos and Zoran Salipur, Zoran Petkovic, Oleg Kokotovic, Milivoj Markovic and Vanja Jokanovic—I hope I've pronounced the names correctly—who continue to nurture and support the young Australian Serbian athletes in my community.

This not-for-profit organisation is based in the heart of Fowler, at Cabramatta PCYC, another great local facility that provides a home for many of our local sporting and community activities. Obilic Basketball Club currently has three men's teams, one women's team, six junior boys teams and two junior girls teams—all up, 12 teams playing competition at the Bankstown Basketball Association while training three nights a week at Cabramatta PCYC.

I didn't know this, but the Serbian community loves basketball, and it's their main sport, despite having a hero in the currently ranked world No. 1 men's singles tennis champion, Novak Djokovic. Again, congratulations to this amazing group of individuals on reaching this milestone, and I wish them continuing success in the next 25 years.

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