Kosovo Karatists refuse to compete in Serbia without state symbols

Serbia's Karate Federation has announced that at the European Karate Championship, expected to be held this month in Novi Sad, Kosovo will participate without state symbols.

Federation of Karate of Serbia Secretary General Kayica Calicanin has said that for such a thing, the Serbian Federation has announced the European Federation of Karate.

But, from the Federation of Karate in Kosovo, they say they have no announcement of such decisions.

Ismet Krasniqi, chairman of the Federation of Karate of Kosovo, says that if such a decision is correct, it is unacceptable and poses violations of the rules. According to him, Kosovo athletes will travel to Novi Sad, but will not compete if Kosovo is not treated equally like all other states.

According to Calicanin, the European Federation of Karate has announced that Kosovo will participate without state symbols, and if Kosovo athletes win any medals, this will happen under the flag of the European Federation.

“If they come, although this is still not safe, flag highlighting and symbols will not be possible. For that, they are probably informed by the European Federation”, Kalincanin has said.

Meanwhile, Krasniqi has said that the Federation of Kosovo Karate has not received any announcement, but according to him, it would be unacceptable.

We have not received any information about this from the European Federation or the World Federation. Such a thing is unacceptable to us, and they have no right to do so. Something like that is a violation of the rules. We had proposed that, if they wanted to, leave all the flags, but that one state could display the symbols and the other didn't, that's breaking the rules. We will go to Novi Sad anyway, but we will not compete if we are not treated the same as we are all”, Krasniqi told Radio Free Europe.