When the Jedinstvo junior women’s team, consisting of Lidija Hajdu, Franciška Budai, Melinda Ivan and Izabela Šejmeši, won third place in SFR Yugoslavia in 1989, nobody could have predicted that this would mark the beginning of an era of dominance by the women bowlers from Novi Bečej, an era that would last for the next twenty years.
At the final SFR Yugoslav Championship, held in Kula in 1990, the Novi Bečej team truly shone. The team consisting of Đenđi Kiš, Marta Magda, Biljana Kokić, Izabela Šejmeši and Ljiljana Kokić won the gold medal, confirming that Jedinstvo had a generation of exceptionally talented young bowlers.
After a two-year break caused by the war in Croatia and the breakup of SFR Yugoslavia, the Jedinstvo junior women continued where they had left off. In the newly formed Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Đenđi Kiš, Izabela Šejmeši, Biljana Kokić and Marta Magda won first place in 1993, claiming another championship title.
This title marked the continuation of the dominance of Jedinstvo’s junior women, a tradition that would last for many years.
For Monika Kiš, Julijana Bata, Ivana Eremić, Ildiko Kormanjoš, Mirjana Dudevljev, Tijana Svilengaćin, Andrea Vaš, Livia Santo, Adriana Mesaroš and Mirjana Palfi, it seemed that there was only one place reserved for them – first place.
Generations of young Jedinstvo bowlers came and went, but the tradition of success remained unchanged. Year after year, the Novi Bečej women proved that their club had an exceptionally strong youth development program and that a championship tradition could be built and maintained from one generation to the next.
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