Sport pays price of frosty Serbia-Kosovo ties
BELGRADE: Sport is paying the price of tense ties between former foes Serbia and Kosovo after a historic handball match was cancelled and doubts were cast over a judo event.
T he women’s u nd e r - 2 0 handball World Cup qualification tournament match would have been the f irst documented international sporting fixture between Serbia and its former province to be played in Serbia.
The game, which was due to be played behind closed doors, was cancelled by the Serbian interior ministry just a few hours before it was to begin on Friday.
The decision was taken after dozens of hardline Serbian fans, who regularly chant “Kosovo is Serbia” at sports events, gathered at the venue near Belgrade, waving Serbian flags and singing patriotic songs, local media reported.
In another politically- charged move, the Serbian interior ministry said Friday it would not let matches between Kosovo and the other teams in its group, Norway and Slovakia, go ahead.
The games were due to take place on Saturday and Sunday respectively.
The ministry said the decision was made to prevent “any possibility of clashes between police and citizens”.
The head of the Kosovo Handball Federation, Eugen Saracini, said the Kosovo players had been under “pressure” during their stay in Serbia. The team left Belgrade on Saturday.
The European Handbal l Federation ( EHF) expelled Serbia from the tournament over its decision to cancel the Kosovo match.
“Under the circumstances of the match cancellation and the failure of Serbia to play the game... the Serbian national team will be excluded from further participation in the event,” the EHF said in a statement.
However, the country’s top leaders said the decision to cancel the match was justified.
“It was the only possibility,” President Aleksandar Vucic said.
“Should we beat them (the fans) for singing Serbian patriotic national songs?”
Vucic did not exclude the possibi l ity that Serbia wi l l eventually have to face Kosovo in a sports event “somewhere abroad.”
“But to acknowledge Kosovo’s independence on Serbi a’s territory ( by hosting the match) I don’t know how you think we can do that,” he said.
Serbia and Kosovo Albanian independence fighters fought a war in 1999 and Kosovo unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in 2008, but Belgrade still does not recognise the move.
Although Vucic urged an “internal dialogue” over the Kosovo issue, which is key to Belgrade’s bid to join the European Union, the recognition of Kosovo’s independence is politically still impossible in Serbia.
Kosovo’s government voiced “deep regret” over cancellation of the match.
“Nationalistic acts that are impeding holding international matches are to be condemned just as efforts are made to relax the relations” between Belgrade and Pristina, it said in a statement. — AFP