World Aquatics has temporarily suspended Agron Zeqiri, the president of the Kosovo Swimming Federation, over accusations of preferential selection for international representation for his daughter.
Zeqiri has been suspended for alleged discrimination against swimmers Hana Beiqi and Adell Sabovic, the country’s two representatives for the Olympic Games.
The Kosovo Swimming Federation claimed that Sabovic, who was born in, raised in, and the United States, was not eligible to represent Kosovo internationally and fought against his selection at prior World Championships in spite of him holding a Kosovo passport.
On January 1, 2024, however, Zeqiri sent Sabovic a letter confirming that he was eligible to represent the country.
In spite of that letter, both Sabovic and Beiqi were held out of the 2024 World Championships, which was a requirement to be eligible for Olympic selection.
The Olympic selection criteria have explicit rules about selecting athletes with the best times based on the World Aquatics points system, and previously had a requirement that athletes compete in either the 2023 or 2024 World Championships. Ultimately, that condition was waived, paving the road for both athletes’ selections.
Agron Zeqiri’s daughter Eda Zeqiri was sent to represent Kosovo at the 2024 World Championships, creating internal controversy over bias in selection. He would relent on his objection to Hana going to the meet, but requested that Mal Gashi, the top-scoring swimmer who trains in Kosovo (and the other 2024 World Championships representative) be sent in place of Sabovic.
According to a letter from World Aquatics’ Namhee Cho, the two were the top scoring athletes in the qualifying period and were the proper selections for the Olympic Games. After passing the proverbial political potato back and forth with the Kosovo Olympic Committee, the two eligible athletes Sabovic and Hana were ultimately sent to the Olympic Games.
Agron Zeqiri also escalated rhetoric with World Aquatics, accusing Executive Director Brent Nowicki of possible criminal behavior and treasurer Dale Neuberger of rigging the results of Hana Beiq. This further caught the ire of the Kosovo Olympic Committee, which was concerned about the way the swimming federation was communicating with the international sporting body.
Kosovo has competed as an independent delegation at the last five Olympic Games (three summer and two winter), winning five total medals, all in judo. Swimmers made up two of the country’s nine Olympians present in Paris, with Sabovic finishing 58th in the men’s 100 free (51.77) and Beiqi finishing 43rd in the women’s 50 free (27.34).
Sabovic was raised in Manhattan and is currently a senior on the varsity team at Princeton.
