On Saturday, Serbian authorities prohibited Kosovo’s national boxing team from entering Serbia to participate in the 2021 World Boxing Championship being held in Belgrade.
The team tried to cross the Serbian border earlier today, but were told by Serbian border authorities to remove their uniforms which displayed Kosovo national symbols.
The team refused, as AIBA, the International Boxing Association, had promised them fair and equal treatment in this respect.
UNACCEPTABLE!#Kosovo's boxing team🥊🇽🇰 was not allowed to enter Serbia, to attend at the World Boxing Championship, which will be held in Beograd.@NOCKOSOVO askes the @Olympics and @AIBA_Boxing to take immediate action & our team to have same treatment as other countries. pic.twitter.com/liBVahAG5b
— NOC KOSOVO 🥇🥇🥇 (@NOCKOSOVO) October 23, 2021
In a statement, AIBA said that it “expects that the Kosovo Boxing Federation’s delegation will be treated no differently than the delegation of any other AIBA member.”
The association also wrote that they are in contact with Serbian authorities to remedy the situation.