New beginning

Kosovo paddlers will make history when they participate in the World Championships

GUANGZHOU (China): Kosovo’s paddlers are set to make history here this week when they become the first to play in an international sports competition since the country declared independence.

A men’s and women’s team will compete in division four of the World Team Table Tennis Championships under the name Kosovo which declared its independence from Serbia one week ago. “We are proud of course,” Besart Domaniku said. “We are honoured, and we are more motivated to do well than in the past.”

Kosovo have played in five individual and team world championships since the ITTF, the sport’s governing body, recognised Kosovo as a sporting federation in 2003. But this year the teams will, for the first time, play under the new Kosovo national flag, having used the United Nations flag and their table tennis federation flag in the past, the players said.

“The prime minister (Hashim Thaci) handed us the new flag before we left for China,” said another member of the men’s team, Jeton Beqiri. Kosovo unilaterally declared itself independent this month, sparking celebrations in Pristina, but triggering violent protests in Belgrade and the divided Kosovo city of Mitrovica.

Domaniku said however they were focusing on the competition rather than the problems at home. “That’s political, we are a sporting team, so we are not interested in that,” he said. “We just want there to be peace in our country and in others and we hope others feel the same,” added Beqiri. The Kosovo teams, each with three players, are expected to take to the tables on Monday. They are not in the running to win the championships, with the men’s team finishing 90th in Germany’s Bremen in 2006.

Under current rules a national or regional federation can be formally recognised and compete under the auspices of an international sports federation, independent of whether that country or region is formally recognised by the international community.

As such, world football's ruling body FIFA counts more members than the United Nations, allowing federation members like Tahiti — a part of semi-autonomous French Polynesia — to participate in qualifying rounds for the World Cup.