Sport in Kosovo

A national boxing team from Kosovo spent the weekend travelling from Kosovo to the Serbian border three times for a planned journey to the Men's World Boxing Championships in Belgrade before finally returning home after Serbia refused to let them enter the country.

A statue of Kosovo's best-known football player, Fadil Vokrri, was unveiled on Friday at the Pristina city stadium named after him. The statue was unveiled to mark what would have been his 61st birthday.

Elvira Dushku, the secretary-general of the Kosovo Basketball Federation, said on Tuesday that the basketball governing bodies in Pristina and Tirana are discussing ideas for a potential league merger.

"For many years, we have discussed the creation of a common league at our meetings, but intensive discussions have started since last year," Dushku said.

Kosovo Olympic gold medalist Majlinda Kelmendi on Friday attended the unveiling of a bronze statue of herself in judo kit in her hometown of Peje, about 50 miles west of the capital Pristina.

The 30-year-old judoka made history in the Rio 2016 Olympics when she became the first athlete from Kosovo to bring home a gold in the country's first-ever Olympic participation.

Belgrade club delegation was not allowed to enter Kosovo and Metohija in order for its players to play the Serbian Cup match against Trepca from Kosovska Mitrovica.

Kosovo's national team is eyeing ways to recruit fresh talent as it readies to start playing competitive matches in the newly established UEFA League of Nations in September.

Placed in Group 3 of League D, Kosovo will play against Malta, Faroe Islands and Azerbaijan.

The top team in Group 3 will be promoted to a higher league, playing against more difficult opponents.

Kosovo's karate team says it will complain to the IOC over the ban on the team entering Serbia to compete in the European Karate Championship in Novi Sad, northern Serbia, on May 10-13.

The retaliatory move came days after the Football Federation of Kosovo refused to allow Serbia's Red Star to play a match in the mainly ethnic Serbian town of Gracanica on May 9.

Tens of thousands of football fans in Kosovo crowded the Adem Jashari stadium in South Mitrovica for an unprecedented event on Tuesday evening.

They had come to see the first team from Kosovo ever to play in the Champions League qualifiers since Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008.

BEIJING - The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) has admitted the Kosovo Athletic Federation into provisional membership, the organization's executive committee said on Wednesday.

LAUSANNE - The International Swimming Federation (FINA) granted full membership to the Kosovo Swimming Federation, FINA posted on its website.

According to the short release, the decision to admit the Kosovo Swimming Federation as the 208th FINA member was adopted at the FINA Bureau.