SUNDAY, JUNE 21, 2015 SPORTS Tears of joy not grief as Kosovan fulfils dream BAKU: A decades-long dream kept alive despite the threat of death came to fruition amidst tears of joy when the Kosovans paraded under their own flag at the European Games opening cere- mony, the Kosovan National Olympic Committee president told AFP yesterday. Besim Hasani said watching the small delega- tion led by flag bearer and two-time world judo champion Majlinda Kelmendi in Baku, Azerbaijan, just over a week ago had been an extraordinary experience. It had all been made possible when his extraordinary and dangerous diplomatic efforts were finally rewarded by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) officially recognising Kosovo last December in Monaco. “It was a long dream, 20 years,” Hasani told AFP in an interview in his hotel in Baku. “My dream became part of the Olympic dream. When you start a dream it is something when it works out, you cannot describe it. “It’s fabulous. There were tears, everything in terms of emotion Jiao Li was there after so many years.”I thought then now I can die tomorrow. Of course I changed my Majlinda Kelmendi mind!” Chinese in T-T The threat of death, though, was something You took one direction and I was prepared for diplomacy and lobbying to get Kosovo recog- that hung over him during the early years of bat- everything.” nised by the IOC. tling to get Kosovo recognised on the interna- The Serbian terror tactics did not stop with “After the war I went to different places where tional sporting stage. him, for if Kosovans dared to put on sports the IOC was but without accreditation (to gain clean sweep Previously a part of Serbia with an ethnic events such as football matches, the security access to the hotel they were staying in),” he Albanian population, Kosovo declared its inde- forces would step in. said. pendence in 2008 and has since been recog- “Yes you could be killed for playing sport. “I would find different ways of getting in to BAKU: Chinese-born players won gold, sil- won bronze for Ukraine with a 4-2 win nised by more than 100 UN member states. They (the Serbs) wouldn’t allow us to compete,” see them, even climbing through windows. “I ver and bronze in the women’s singles against Team GB’s Paul Drinkhall. Earlier in However, Hasani’s efforts at lobbying for said Hasani. “They would stop the games. “Some find one hundred ways to come and meet the table tennis at the inaugural European the European Games, Ovtcharov was in the recognition were not appreciated by the of the people were arrested, some were killed. people and bring them small presents. I would Games in the Azeri capital of Baku on German side that lost the bronze medal Serbians. “I faced threats and retribution, every- All the time the Serbians justified it. say to them our athletes are waiting and waiting Friday. match to Austria in the team event. thing from the Serbians,” said Hasani, who has “Our direction was a peaceful way and to to compete.” Jiao Li, 42, prevailed 4-0 in an all-Dutch After collecting singles gold he criticised been president of the NOC since 1996 and is into become independent.” Eventually it did boil over Many top athletes have moved abroad- final against Jie Li while Melek Hu beat the format for the team competition. “It is his fifth mandate. into war. During the 1998-99 war KLA guerrillas- Hasani said one football match between Albania Slovakia’s Eva Odorova 4-1 to win bronze ridiculous to play with two players,” he said. “When Kosovo was occupied by the Serbians a pro-independence ethnic Albanian rebel and Switzerland had 11 Kosovans on the pitch, for Turkey. The Dutch pair also claimed sil- “We lost through strange regulations that I I was regarded as one of the most dangerous movement-fought Serbian armed forces. including Swiss playmaker Xherdan Shaqiri, of ver in the team event earlier in the Games. hope will be changed in the future.” people. “They asked me what I was doing. I say it The war ended when a NATO-led air cam- Inter Milan. But he is proud that they have “I told Jie, ‘No matter how tired we are, we Drinkhall, ranked 22 in Europe, was a sur- is sport. paign halted Serbia’s crackdown and ousted its already produced a superstar in Kelmendi. can’t make a fool out of ourselves in the prise finalist and said that despite losing 4- “But I was prepared to be arrested, to be forces from the territory in June 1999. Kosovo “She is a hero, she is the most important per- singles’,” Jiao Li told reporters at the Baku 2 and leaving Baku empty handed the beaten or even to be killed and my family (he is unilaterally proclaimed independence in 2008, a son in the country,” said Hasani, who was voted Sports Hall. sport had a bright future in Britain. married with three children) knew that. “Such move that Serbia still refuses to recognise. personality of the year in Kosovo last year. “It is “We’re very close friends. But I knew I “It’s been a great 12 months for us and I killings happened in the mountains, around a However, even after the Serbian Army was remarkable how one of the poorest countries in had to think about the match if I wanted to think it’s only a matter of time before we hundred Kosovan Albanians were victims of ejected from the province it still took Hasani the world can have a two-time world champi- win. Now that it’s over, we can be friends really take off and do something,” Drinkhall, that. “However, you didn’t care about your life. years of racking up the air miles as he used on.”—AFP again.” Li’s gold medal also secured her who won the mixed doubles gold medal at qualification for the Rio 2016 Olympic the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games Games. “It means a lot less anxiety and alongside wife Joanna, told reporters. energy spent, knowing that I’ve qualified.” A marathon final game featuring a In the men’s singles, Germany’s Dimitrij string of breathtaking rallies finished 22-20, Amialiusik pounces late Ovtcharov beat Belarusian Vladimir the longest of the tournament, in favor of Samsonov 4-3 while Chinese-born Lei Kou the Ukrainian. —Reuters to take road race gold Concentrate on blows, BAKU: Alena Amialiusik’s pow- er-packed finish in a three-way sprint secured European Games Khan tells his friend road race gold for the BAKU: British bantamweight boxer Qais “I spend a lot of time on there playing Belarusian around the streets of Ashfaq hopes some advice from friend and games but it’s mostly Facebook and Baku yesterday. former world light welterweight champion Twitter,” he told reporters. “So now for five Amialiusik, 26, timed her Amir Khan will go a long way to helping hours before my fights I have banned challenge to perfection in him land European Games gold. myself from using my mobile. scorching heat, hovering Khan, who won Olympic silver as a 17- “I realise it’s more important not to get behind her rivals before step- year-old and has a professional record of 31 distracted and to focus on my preparations ping on the gas 50 metres from wins and three losses, told Ashfaq to stay for each fight.” Ashfaq, 22, has won two the finish of the 120.7 km away from the temptations of social media bouts in Baku to earn a quarter-final meet- course. before his fights. ing with Germany’s Omar El-Hag. Poland’s Katarzyna The Leeds-born amateur, who won a “I’ve boxed the German before and beat Niewiadoma took silver and Commonwealth Games silver medal last him but he’s a tough kid. I’m confident I can Dutchwoman Anna van der year, has so far heeded those words having get the win though,” he said after overcom- Breggen bronze with the trio put his phone away. ing Turkish fighter Selcuk Eker on Friday. credited with the same time of “Amir is a friend of mine and he rang me “I have not come to this tournament three hours, 20 minutes and 36 up when I was in Glasgow competing in for anything less than that gold medal. seconds. the Commonwealth Games to tell me off Obviously qualifying for the world cham- The Netherlands had already and say I was spending too much time on pionships is one of the main reasons we qualified for next year’s my phone,” said Ashfaq who was 11 when are here but once I have done that it will Olympics but unlike other Rio- Khan won his Olympic medal and watched be the icing on the cake to win the gold on in awe. medal.” —Reuters bound leading nations sent a strong squad to Baku, despite the absence of injured Olympic gold medallist and 12-time world champion Marianne Vos. Ellen van Dijk took the indi- vidual time trial title on Thursday but another medal eluded her as she finished 18 seconds behind the podium places in fourth having been unable to reel in the trio in the latter stages. Van der Breggen appeared set to spark more Dutch celebrations when she led into the final straight but was a sitting target for Alena Amialiusik Amialiusik who dug deep in the shadow of the finish line.