On this day in 2008, at the ITTF World Table Tennis Championship held in Guangzhou, China, Kosova was represented by a team of six players, consisting of three men and women with the men’s team being defeated 3-0 by Yemen and the women’s team defeating Iceland 3-1. The ITTF World Table Tennis Championship, which is held on a yearly basis, is a global sports competition event organized by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), the international association of all national table tennis associations. The International Table Tennis Federation, with its headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, is an international sports federation recognized as such by the International Olympic Committee.

The peculiarity of the International Table Tennis Federation as regards its relationship with Kosova is that it has accepted and recognized the Table Tennis Federation of Kosova (TTFK) as a member since 2003. Yet, the uniqueness of the 2008 championship on February 24th lay in it being internationally perceived as the Republic of Kosova’s first international appearance at an international sports event since declaring its independence in February of the same year. It was the first time that the athletes from Kosova were given the opportunity to participate in an international sports event representing their newborn Republic.