Gresa Bakraqi is the only representative of Kosovo, a European country of almost 2 million, at the indoor world championship in athletics in Belgrade. The 26-year-old specializes in medium-distance running. But her country’s flag – is not shown on the big screens in the Stark Arena when she competed in the women’s 1,500 meter second heat. The Serbs wiped it out because they don’t recognize Kosovo as a sovereign state.
The Kosovo flag was also not included on the official World Athletics website in the tournament results. The Olympic Committee of Kosovo tweeted a post condemning the lack of the country’s flag at the European championship in Belgrade.
Meanwhile, “World Athletics” assured a few days ago in a statement that there will be no such problems at the competition in Serbia. – The Organizing Committee of Belgrade and the Kosovo Athletics Federation have worked together to ensure that the Kosovar athlete can compete without drink. All parties agreed that Kosovo will be represented by the three-letter country code (KOS), says “Inside the Games”.
This is not the first problem of this type in Kosovo. In October last year, a delegation from the Kosovo Boxing Federation was refused entry to Serbia for the boxing world championship at least three times.
Kosovo declared its independence on February 17, 2008. Now it is seen by some countries as part of Serbia and by others as a separate country. Currently, it is a point of dispute between the Serbian and Albanian peoples living in its territory.
Kosovo’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs claims that it is recognized by 117 countries, including the United States, France, Great Britain, Japan and Australia. However, it is perceived by the Serbs as an autonomous part of the country. Russia and China have a similar view.
Kosovo does not support, inter alia, Spain. The country’s government initially refused to grant Kosovo permission to compete under its own flag at the 2018 World Cup in Qatar. He only stepped down under pressure from the international sports community.
A country from Europe in great trouble. “Take off without national symbols”
The website “Deutsche Welle” in November last year described the problems of athletes from Kosovo who could not take part in international tournaments due to their origin. – Our goal is not to find a compromise between countries. We just want to compete as we do all over the world –
Source: Sport
Tristin is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his in-depth and engaging writing on sports. He currently works as a writer at 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the sports industry.
