At the Judo World Championship held in Budapest, Hungary, Kosovo achieved two elite medals with just three competitors.
Distria Krasniqi won the silver medal, while Laura Fazliu took bronze, marking yet another major success in this sport.
Coach Driton Kuka, in an interview for KosovaPress, emphasized that he expected such success from Distria Krasniqi, while admitting that he was pleasantly surprised by Laura Fazliu’s performance.
“Honestly, Distria’s form this year has been at an exceptionally high level, and I expected her to win a medal at this world championship. But what really surprised me in a good way was Laura in this competition, considering that she has been dealing with a very serious injury for the past four to five months, which, with the help of her physiotherapists and our team, she has managed to improve quite a lot. To be honest, during this final preparation phase, she had only one proper training camp — the one we had in Spain — and I always wondered if that would be enough to reach peak form. But she surprised us with her performance,” Kuka initially said.
The judoka who remained without a medal was Akil Gjakova, but Kuka revealed that he had been suffering from an injury and had barely trained in recent months.
“I expected us to return with medals, especially since, as I said, Distria is in excellent form. Two medals is an outstanding success. Akil also showed good fights and a high level, even though he is dealing with a very serious arm injury. Now that the European and World Championships are over, we have time to recover, and we’ll see if any surgical intervention is needed — we will consult with the doctors we work with on this. Three competitors, two medals — it’s an extraordinary result. Kosovo has now won its tenth world championship medal,” Kuka further noted.
Returning to Distria Krasniqi, Kuka also revealed the reason why she did not manage to win the gold medal at this championship.
Kuka emphasized that international sports successes are helping improve Kosovo’s image in the diplomatic arena, breaking down prejudices and strengthening international recognition.
Beyond results and medals, Kosovo judo marked another milestone as judoka Nora Gjakova is now officially a member of the Athletes’ Commission of the International Judo Federation (IJF) — an elite body that helps shape the future of the sport globally.
/KosovaPress/
