Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic met in Zagreb on Monday with a delegation of the Alka Knights Society (VAD) for talks on preparations for this year's lancing tournament, which will be held on 8 August in the southern town of Sinj.

Given the cultural, social and religious events scheduled for July and August in Sinj, which are expected to attract many tourists, the meeting also focused on the Covid-19 situation and the ongoing vaccination campaign, the government said in a statement.

The government said that an extra effort needed to be made to raise public awareness of the need to get vaccinated and improve the epidemiological situation.

Prime Minister Plenkovic said that the government would continue financially supporting the Sinjska Alka tournament and other VAD projects.

The Sinjska Alka tournament commemorates a victory achieved by 700 Croatian defenders of Sinj, about 30 kilometres inland from the southern coastal city of Split, against 60,000 Ottoman soldiers on August 14, 1715.

The final of this three-day competition is held on the first Sunday in August. The event features period-clad horsemen riding at full gallop and aiming their lances at an iron ring, called the alka, which is suspended from a rope above the race track.

The Sinjska Alka tournament was inscribed on UNESCO’s world intangible cultural heritage list in 2010.