Celebrated 49 year old shooter Mykola Milchev received ‘Athlete of the Month of October’ Award from Ukraine’s NOC President Sergey Bubka. Milchev who won Olympic gold medal in Sydney 2000, was honoured by NOC experts who appreciated his performance at the ISSF World Cup Final in shotgun in Rome, Italy. Ukrainian finished at the second place out of 10 world best rated shooters at skeet.

Sergey Bubka praised Mr Milchev saying, 'I am so happy to distinguish true legend of sport, an athlete with huge experience and successful career. I know Mykola is highly motivated to achieve new heights in Tokyo in 2020'.

Mykola Milchev was honoured to bear the flag of Ukraine at the Opening ceremony of the Rio Games – the fourth Olympics for him. Mr Milchev produced an outstanding performance and was placed 4th at the Olympic final.

Sergey Bubka, who is also IOC Executive Board member, praised the contribution of Ukraine's Shooting federation and its president Oleh Volkov to the promotion of Olympic Movement in Ukraine.

Mykola Milchev announced he is continuing his athlete's career for at list one Olympiad, confirming he is highly motivated for the next four years. He said, 'First, I've never been to Japan yet. Yes, I am so happy to receive 'Athlete of the Month' Award, but my goal is to win 'Athlete of the Year' Award, preferably in the year of the Games. Do you know that my opponent who won 'bronze final' in Rio from me was 4 years older than me? I see it as a symbol for me to go on'.

Mykola Milchev received his career's first ever 'Athlete of the month' Award from the NOC of Ukraine.