Intro:

Kosovar athletes welcomed the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) decision to accept Kosovo into the Olympic fold on Thursday.

Script:

SOUNDBITE (English) Era Janjeva, Table tennis player and Olympic hopeful:

"We as Kosovars are really happy with this national Olympic recognition, and we are so proud of this, and we think that this was our last gate that was closed for us and it's now open. We are really exited if we could take place on the, if we could go in that position (Olympic Games). I think this is a very good opportunity for us, like Kosovo, to start as a bright future."

SOUNDBITE (English), Lum Zhaveli, age 24, swimmer, Kosovar Olympics hopeful:

"I feel wonderful as an athlete because we are going to have a chance to compete against other athletes and finally becoming equal to all of them, so we're going to meet each other, share experiences, compete against each other and probably someone is going to win a medal so it's going to be a good motivation also for all the generations that are going to come after us. For our generation is going to be a motivation to work harder, to work better and try to work smarter so we would get the desired results by 2016."