Izvor: N1 televizija, 10.Maj.2018, 20:17 (ažurirano 02.Apr.2020.)
Karate championship starts without Kosovo team
The biggest ever European Karate Championship opened in Novi Sad on Thursday with organizers claiming that all procedures were implemented and nothing was missing even though the national team from Kosovo was not there.
The event in Novi Sad is the biggest continental championship ever organized in Europe with more than 650 karateka competing as members of 52 national teams.
The Serbian Karate Federation believes >> Pročitaj celu vest na sajtu N1 televizija << no sanctions will be imposed on the organizers over the decision by the Serbian authorities not to allow the Kosovo team into Serbia proper with their state symbols. Serbian Federation President Slavoljub Piper told N1 that nothing is missing from the championship even though the 53rd registered team is not there to compete. “I don’t agree with that, there is nothing missing here,” he said.
Piper added that all the competitors are present in Novi Sad because the karate team from Kosovo simply did not show up and that is where the responsibility of the organizers ends. “The Serbian Karate Federation can’t be subject to any consequences because did everything to make sure everyone who registered for the championship is here and taken care of in line with the Serbian government decision. We even made an added effort to make sure those athletes take part,”he said.
Kosovo’s top karateka Herolin Nipevci said he spent a year preparing for the meet in Novi Sad and did not expect politics to stop him from getting there. “We are recognized by the World Federation, we practised a lot, prepared to go there and win and I honestly did not expect this. Sports are just sports, sometimes the best win, sometimes the best loose. Politics is destroying us because it only inflicts damage on athletes,” he said.
The European Karate Federation released a statement saying that it “is making big efforts to guarantee the participation of all the karatekas in the events that are being organised by this federation. Regarding the celebration in Novi Sad (Serbia) of the 2018 Senior Karate European Championships, we are working hard to ensure that all the European athletes take part in this tournament. We have 52 of the 53 national federations confirmed at the championships, and we strive to make sure that all the athletes will be able to compete. The EKF has always had the policy of making our tournaments as open and accessible as possible and we will continue to endeavour to promote the participation of all the athletes in our events,” the statement said.
The Serbian police stopped the Kosovo karate team at the Merdare border crossing under a decision by the Internal Affairs Ministry (MUP) because they were carrying Kosovo state symbols. The Serbian authorities recently cancelled a handball World Championship qualifier between the Serbian and Kosovo national teams and withdrew a judo team from a competition in Sarajevo before they came up against athletes from Kosovo.
