Francisco Cerundolo Wins First Split Open After Dramatic Final
October 4, 2020 - The winner of the premiere edition of the ATP Challenger Split Open is Francisco Cerundolo, who defeated the first-seed Pedro Sousa in the tie break of a tense final.
The Argentine reduced the result, then twice failed to serve for the match in the third set before reaching his first title at a Challenger tournament. Cerundolo finally celebrated in the 13th game of the final (4:6, 6:3, 7:6 (4)). To make the story more intriguing, Cerundolo was the last tennis player to enter the main draw of the tournament directly according to the ranking. As such, he was certainly not among the winners.
Robert Pleško
"I am thrilled. This was an amazing week full of long and difficult matches. I fought in every match, and I believe this will be just the first in a series of my trophies. I hope to play all four Grand Slams next year," said the 22-year-old from Buenos Aires.
Sousa, a Lisbon native who is ten years older than Cerundolo, opened the match better. Sousa led 6-4, 1-0 with a break, but Cerundolo fought back by winning six of the next eight games. There were no breaks by the middle of the deciding set, and then the match began to heat up and reached a climax worthy of a final. Cerundolo served twice for the match, at 5:4 and 6:5, just like in the quarterfinal against Marterer, and again, as then, he did not finish the job.
Still, his more aggressive and risky game eventually paid off. It was 5-2, then 5-4, and Cerundolo managed to keep both of his serves to win in the tie break. He dropped to the ground while the spectators applauded him for the well-deserved title.
Robert Pleško
"I was nervous and tired at the end of the match. I couldn't even think anymore. I am glad that I still got a new opportunity and still won," said Cerundolo, who achieved four victories this week in three sets, which speaks volumes about his mental stability. He showed it the day before in the semifinal against Duja Ajdukovic, played in the stormy southern wind.
"It was impossible to play yesterday. I was hitting in the middle of the court because otherwise, I missed everything. It was a real mental victory," recalled the Argentine who will enter the top 200 on the ATP list for the first time tomorrow. He will receive 6,190 euro for the title in Split, while Sousa will receive 3,650 euro.
The Portuguese entered the final as a favorite, considering that he was the first seed, has more experience, played the final of the ATP tournament in Buenos Aires, and won seven Challengers.
Robert Pleško
"Today, the conditions were perfect, but that didn't help me either," commented Sousa, who is close to returning to the top 100 (he will be 111th from tomorrow).
"I hope to get closer to entering the top 100 and stay there. I like your city, it is beautiful, and the conditions are great, so I would love to come back here," said the 32-year-old Portuguese at the end.
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Most Students, Staff Feel Teaching Poorer than Before Quarantine
ZAGREB, October 4, 2020 - The Agency for Science and Higher Education has presented the findings of a survey on studying and social isolation during the coronavirus pandemic, which show that students and staff feel the quality of online teaching and teacher-student interaction have been poorer than before quarantine.
Fifty-seven percent of students and 54% of staff at higher education institutions feel the quality of online teaching via field practicum has been much poorer or poorer than before quarantine. Also, 42% of students and 44% of staff feel the possibility of teacher-student interaction has been much poorer or poorer than before quarantine.
Fifty percent of students feel the quality of online teaching via lectures has also been worse than before quarantine, while 38% of staff feel the quality is the same.
The survey was conducted in June and July across Croatia by e-questionnaire with the aim to better understand the effects of extraordinary circumstances on studying and teaching.
Forty-two percent of students were unhappy with access to libraries, while a little over 50% of higher education staff were happy with it.
Eighty-two percent of students and 86% of staff said they were happy with their digital competences.
Respondents mentioned the need for a stable Internet connection and adequate computer equipment, ensuring e-literature access, better organised online exams, preventing unethical behaviour, and the possibility to conduct some classes in person.
3 in 5 Croatians Use Digital Services More than Before Pandemic
ZAGREB, October 4, 2020 - During the coronavirus pandemic, 62% of citizens are using digital services more often than before, mostly for online banking and shopping, shows a survey on citizens' digital habits done by the Hendal market research agency in August.
The survey was conducted online, covering 500 respondents, 72% of whom used online banking, 63% shopped online, 34% used online public administration services and 17% used insurance services.
Ninety-six percent of respondents used digital banking solutions to check their accounts and 88% for transactions. Seventy-nine percent said the digital development of banks in Croatia was as good as elsewhere in the EU, while 17% said it lagged behind European countries.
Forty-six percent of respondents cited fear for data safety as the main obstacle to using digital financial services, while 42% cited possible errors.
As for digital insurance services, respondents said they mostly used them for car insurance. One-third said they combined digital channels with going to a branch office or talking with an agent.
Two-thirds say digital insurance services in Croatia as good as elsewhere in EU
Over 65% of respondents said digital insurance services in Croatia were as good as elsewhere in the EU, while 33% said they lagged behind.
Sixty-five percent of respondents said advanced digital services contributed to their quality of life, 84% said digitalisation in general contributed to society's development, and 94% said they would continue to use digital services more even after the coronavirus crisis.
Croatian Defence Minister Mario Banozic: All Four Offers of Fighter Jets are Equal for Now
ZAGREB, October 4, 2020 - Defence Minister Mario Banozic said on Sunday that all four offers of fighter jets were equal for now, and that a lot of technical issues needed to be addressed before the financial aspect.
Groups of experts are studying the details of the offers which include not just multi-purpose fighter aircraft but also weapons systems, flight simulators and further training of pilots and technical personnel, Banozic said in response to questions form the press during a traditional military pilgrimage to the Marian shrine of Marija Bistrica, northwest of Zagreb.
There are a lot of technical issues that need to be addressed before the financial aspect, after which comes external diplomacy, the defence minister said.
Banozic said in mid-September that December 12 was the deadline for the interdepartmental commission on the purchase of aircraft to recommend which offer should be chosen. He said that the commission would hold one-on-one talks with each bidder and that there were different elements that would be crucial for the final decision, such as the number of flight simulators, the weapons package, pilot training, the repayment plan and cooperation between the countries. He also said he expected the bidders to lower their asking price.
Croatia is buying 12 fighter jets and has received four offers. The United States is offering the new F-16 Block 70, Sweden is offering the new Gripen C/D model, while France and Israel are offering used aircraft - Rafale and F-16 Block 30 respectively.
New SDP Leader Pedja Grbin: I Want to be Warned about Mistakes
ZAGREB, October 4, 2020 - New Social Democratic Party (SDP) leader Pedja Grbin said on Saturday night that he wanted to be warned about mistakes as he had warned Davor Bernardic.
Grbin dismissed the idea that he had wanted to overthrow Davor Bernardic, saying that he was merely reacting to what he considered bad and added that he expected his colleagues to do the same.
Grbin said that there would be no suspensions or dissolutions of party organisations and that they would work on strengthening the existing organisations and establishing new ones across Croatia.
He announced that the provision on the party members' right to vote would be amended to give everyone the right to vote.
As for local elections, Grbin said that the SDP would have a candidate for the Zagreb mayoral election.
"That candidate will not only be SDP's candidate, but a candidate of all progressive, civic and left-wing parties that truly want changes in Zagreb," he said.
Asked whether that will be Tomislav Tomasevic of the We Can! platform, he said that before such a decision was made, there would be talks with other political options and the city branch.
"We will do our best for the citizens of Zagreb, and that is to free them from this octopus of corruption that has spread its tentacles around the city," he said.
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Croatia to Get Museum of Fake News
ZAGREB, October 4, 2020 - This month Croatia will get a Museum of Fake News, which in its first phase will operate as a website providing testimonies from journalists and scientists, a database of fake news, and tools for promoting media literacy and critical thinking and for recognising and fighting against fake news.
The project has been initiated by Lordan Prelog, a former journalist and editor and now a PhD student at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb. He said that the project is also a contribution to the global fight against disinformation, which is a big threat to democracy and the development of open societies.
According to him, the most efficient way to fight against fake news is to further develop quality, responsible fact-based journalism and to raise public awareness of the dangers and spread of fake news.
He added that the Museum of Fake News project was a result of years of work of the Institute for New Media and E-democracy (InMed), the only Croatian association that is a member of the Social Observatory for Disinformation and Social Media Analysis (SOMA), one of the leading networks of institutions dealing with detecting fake news and models of its dissemination.
One of the most precise definitions of fake news is that is it the deliberate creation and sharing of fake and/or manipulated news with the intent to mislead the public and to do harm for political or personal reasons or for material gain, Prelog said.
He said his plan was to gather as many testimonies as possible from well-known journalists and other media experts who had come across disinformation in their work.
According to him, the term "disinformation" is much more precise than the neologism "fake news", which was popularised after the 2016 US presidential election by US president Donald Trump, known for false claims, conspiracy theories and vulgar insults.
The Museum of Fake News is not a commercial project, and in its initial phase it will consist of a website where all interested members of the public, especially young people, will be able to get information on the phenomenon of disinformation in Croatia and the world, he said.
He added that disinformation had a much greater reach than regular news and that there was no quick and effective strategy in the fight against fake news.
"There is no simple solution, it is necessary to work on developing citizens' critical thinking. The trust in the media and state institutions can be restored through professional and above all ethical practice of journalism and, of course, by developing media literacy across society," Prelog said.
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Ukraine's Windrose Airlines Launches Direct Flight Between Kiev and Zagreb
ZAGREB, October 4, 2020 - The first Ukrainian Windrose Airlines charter flight touched down at Zagreb's Franjo Tudjman Airport on Sunday as part of the first direct flight service between Zagreb and Kiev.
Windrose Airllines will be flying between the two capitals twice a week, on Sundays and Wednesdays, until March 21 next year. The first flight brought about 50 tourists from Kiev who continued to their destinations along the Adriatic coast, while 64 passengers travelled from Zagreb to Kiev. This was described as very good booking given that the aircraft has a seating capacity of 75. The fact that there are no direct flights between Zagreb and Moscow is expected to ensure good occupancy for this flight.
A special ceremony was held at the airport for this inaugural flight attended by representatives of Windrose Airlines, Zagreb Airport, a Ukrainian government delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister Oleksii Reznikov and Croatian Minister of Tourism and Sport Nikolina Brnjac.
"We hope this flight service will contribute to economic cooperation between the two countries and will help attract investment and tourists from Ukraine," Brnjac said, adding that Ukrainian tourists had generated about 400,000 overnight stays in Croatia in the year to the end of August, which is 56 percent of last year's figure.
Last year Croatia had seen a 30 percent increase in the number of tourist arrivals from Ukraine, and Brnjac said she was glad to see that the cooperation was continuing at the present time of the coronavirus pandemic.
Reznikov expressed hope that this flight service would "operate forever" in the interest of promoting economic ties between the two countries.
Among the passengers on board the first flight from Kiev was Croatia's Ambassador to Ukraine, Anica Djumic. Also present at the ceremony was Ukraine's Ambassador in Zagreb, Vasyl Kyrylych.
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HNS Announces Tickets for Croatia Matches against Sweden, France in Zagreb
October 4, 2020 - After UEFA decided that fans can return to stadiums at 30% capacity, HNS announces tickets for Croatia matches against Sweden and France in Zagreb.
HNS announced that following UEFA's decision to allow spectators to fill 30 percent of the stadium's capacity in UEFA competitions, the Executive Board of the Croatian Football Federation decided to use this opportunity and allow spectators to come to the Nations League matches against Sweden, France and Portugal. By UEFA's decision, the arrival of fans to away matches is not allowed.
Croatian fans will once again have the opportunity to watch and support the Croatia national team at home games, after a break of almost a year thanks to COVID-19. The UEFA Executive Board, with the participation of HNS President Davor Suker, decided to allow the national federations to return spectators to a maximum of 30 percent of the available capacity of the stadium.
Although there is little time left for Maksimir Stadium to organize the matches against Sweden (October 11) and France (October 14) and despite the numerous requirements that the organizer must comply with UEFA, the HNS Executive Board decided that the Federation will do everything for Croatian fans to watch Croatia play in a few weeks. After these games in October, Croatia will host Portugal in Split in November, also with spectators.
Spectators will be able to buy tickets for the West and North stands for the matches against Sweden and France, while the East and South stands will be closed to the public because of the Zagreb earthquake in March.
Ticket prices are as follows:
West middle lower: 250 kuna
West lower: 150 kuna
West upper: 100 kuna
North lower: 60 kuna
North upper: 60 kuna
Tickets can be purchased exclusively online, with ticket printing at home.
At the beginning of next week, HNS will inform the public about the manner and start time of ticket sales. Also, the Federation will inform the public about all organizational details of the match, i.e., strict measures that all spectators will have to follow to protect their health, the health of other spectators and in general - the concept of returning spectators to stadiums.
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Flights to Croatia: After Emirates, flydubai Cancels Zagreb Service?
October 4, 2020 - The latest news for flights to Croatia as flydubai cancels Zagreb for October, November, and most of December... for now.
Croatian Aviation reports that just a few hours after Emirates canceled the Dubai - Zagreb service for all of 2021, its partner company flydubai made changes to its Zagreb route, too.
Recall, Emirates flew to Zagreb in the summer, and flydubai in the winter. The same schedule was announced for this year as well.
However, Emirates canceled the Dubai - Zagreb route for this year, but the possibility of flydubai returning on the same route at the beginning of the winter flight schedule was still in the works. Airline tickets on this route could be bought literally until Friday, and while we were skeptical about if these flights would return at all, we now have our answer.
flydubai has canceled all flights to Zagreb for October, November, and almost the whole of December. There are currently departures on sale from December 27, with 3 flights announced per week through January, February and March, but the probability that they will be realized is very small.
Given that Emirates has completely canceled the Dubai - Zagreb route for next year, the question arises whether flydubai will operate on it at all. According to the available flight schedule, it will not, but there is enough time left for this low-cost company to include Zagreb in its network of destinations for the 2021 summer flight schedule.
Zagreb does not currently have an announced direct air connection with Dubai for 2021. The line has been operating regularly since 2014, it was launched by flydubai.
Recall, TCN reported on Saturday that Emirates canceled all flights to Zagreb for the next year, closed its office at Zagreb Airport, and fired its employees. The large B777-300ER aircraft in Zagreb every day will not return to the Croatian capital any time soon, which is certainly a financial blow to the airport, given the revenue it generated from the daily landings of this company's aircraft.
The arrival of this airline in Zagreb was truly a success for the management of Zagreb Airport, but its complete withdrawal can certainly be considered a failure. Emirates connected Zagreb with the rest of the world on a daily basis, offering excellent service to passengers on its flights on which it operated modernly equipped aircraft. The departure of this airline is a step backward for Zagreb Airport.
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European Short Story Festival to be Held in Rijeka
October 4, 2020 - The European Short Story Festival will be held in Rijeka from October 4 to 9, 2020.
The world’s most renowned writers will meet their audience for public readings, book presentations, discussions, lectures, and literary workshops. Writers from all over the world will be there not only to present their works of art, but also to show off their football skills.
The festival itself is being organised in collaboration with the British Hay Festival, a literary festival of great significance and value. The topic of this year’s festival is Luka različitosti. The word “luka” in Croatian means a town or city with a harbour where ships load or unload and “različitost” means diversity. The syntagma was metaphorically and symbolically used in the festival’s name to indicate that the harbour Rijeka, as the chosen location, represents a place of encounters, exchanges, meetings and dialogues. Diversity represents wealth, possibility and freedom.
Besides the literary events, the Festival includes some programmes like a football match between writers and artists from the region. The programme Vozim ti priču connects artists and taxi drivers from Rijeka and the programme Irska u Rijeci represents the literary and artistic scene of Ireland. The Irish city Galway won the title of the “European Capital of Culture” together with Rijeka. The festival will devote special attention to the youth with the programme Pisci i klinci, where high school students will be given the opportunity to spend some quality time with writers.
On top of everything, there is a special programme from October 6 to 9, devoted to the worldwide famous festival, the Hay Festival. The Hay Festival was founded in 1987 and since then it has been held in more than thirty countries on five continents. The Hay Festival is represented in Rijeka through the anthology “Hay Festival Europa28: Vizije budućnosti”. The anthology “Vizije budućnosti” gathers 28 female authors, writers, artists and scientists. Each represents a member country of the European Union. On this occasion the Danish writer Janne Teller will arrive in Rijeka among many other artists like the Bulgarian travel writer Kapka Kassabova, the Croatian poet Asja Bakić, the Irish actress Lisa Dwan and the Slovene sociologist Renata Salecl.
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