Hopes that sport might foster links between Serbia and Kosovo where politics has failed proved short-lived on Friday when the threat of violence drove Belgrade to cancel a historic handball match they had been due to contest.
The Women’s 20 World Championship Qualification would have been the first documented sporting fixture between Serbia and its former province, which declared independence in 2008 and which Belgrade does not recognize as a nation state.
However, Serbian Minister of the Interior Nebojsa Stefanovic ordered that the match to be scrapped over security concerns, he told the national Tanjug news agency.
Photo: Reuters
Kosovar Deputy Prime Minister Enver Hoxhaj described the decision as “unthinkable.”
“Sports are meant to unite people, especially the younger generation, and involvement of politics in such events is destructive,” he said. “Serbia should accept the fact that Kosovo is an equal member of international sports federations.”
On Thursday evening, dozens of youths carrying Serbian flags and flares gathered in front of the match venue, the Kovilovo stadium on the outskirts of the capital, prompting riot police to deploy troops there in large numbers on Friday.
Stefanovic suggested, in comments to news Web site B92, that the government had been an unwilling participant in the event.
“Could we have organized for this match to go ahead? Certainly, but at what cost?” he was quoted as saying. “We are not ready to have the police beat up people for the sake of a match which contradicts all our positions.”
The EU has made Serbia committing to stable relations with Kosovo a prerequisite for membership, but Belgrade continues to refuse to recognize Pristina institutions and has attempted to prevent Kosovo from joining international organizations, including sports associations.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovar President Hashim Thaci were in Brussels on Thursday for a fresh round of EU-sponsored talks on normalizing relations.
Kosovo declared independence almost a decade after a NATO bombing campaign ended a crackdown by Serbia against independence-seeking ethic Albanians.
The declaration sparked violent protests in Belgrade in which the US embassy was set on fire.
The canceled fixture is part of a four-team qualifying tournament also involving Norway and Slovakia.
It was scheduled for 3pm at Kovilovo, having been moved to the isolated complex earlier this week from the central city of Kragujevac for safety reasons.
The Handball Federation of Serbia (RSS) had also ordered the whole tournament to be held behind closed doors, with no fans or media present, saying it acted in line with instructions from the European Handball Federation (EHF).
An EHF spokesman said the body had acted in coordination with Serbian authorities.
“The EHF made the decision based on advice from Serbia’s authorities to ensure the safety of the players and everyone else taking part in the tournament,” he said.
The winner of the tournament will qualify for the July 1 to July 15 World Championship in Hungary.
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