The OCK is holding mental skills seminars with its top athletes ©OCK

The National Olympic Committee of Kosovo has begun a four-part international mental skills seminar with 40 elite athletes taking part over the video conference platform Zoom.

Graziella Thake, the founder of the Optimisation HUB organisation from Australia, is serving as the seminar lead.

Others assisting Thake are coaches with international licenses – Elda Gjoka of Albania, four-time Olympic softball medallist Mel Roche of Australia and her compatriot Paul Hutch.

Some of the athletes involved are part of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Scholarship and 2020 Olympic Hopes programmes.

They include Rio 2016 judo champion Majlinda Kelmendi, who won the country's first and so far only Olympic medal when she struck gold on Kosovo's Games debut in Brazil.

She is joined by other judokas including world medallists Distria Krasniqi and Loriana Kuka and 2018 European champion Nora Gjakova.

Rio 2016 Olympic champion Majlinda Kelmendi will be one of the athletes in attendance ©Getty Images
Rio 2016 Olympic champion Majlinda Kelmendi will be one of the athletes in attendance ©Getty Images

Wrestler Egzon Shala, karate's Herolind Nishevci, boxer Donjeta Sadiku and Alpine skier Albin Tahiri, Kosovo's only Winter Olympian, are also involved.

The seminar will look to give athletes information on mental skills during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has stopped sporting activity for more than two months. 

Along with the physical fitness of athletes, it will look to improve the mental fitness of the country's stars to improve performance.

The first session was held yesterday, with a further three set to be held until the end of the seminar.