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The Afghanistan Paralympic Committee's London-based Chef de
Mission Arian Sadiqi told Reuters on Monday that the country's
two athletes would not be able to attend the Games that commence
on Aug. 24.
"Unfortunately due to the current upheaval going on in
Afghanistan the team could not leave Kabul in time," he said.
U.S. forces have taken over air traffic control at Kabul
airport, where five died on Monday in chaotic scenes https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/talibans-rapid-advance-across-afghanistan-2021-08-10
with reports of firing in the air and a stampede.
Taliban insurgents have overrun major cities and now control
most of Afghanistan. The hardline Islamist movement was ousted
in 2001, but has made sweeping military gains in recent months
as foreign forces, led by the United States, withdrew.
Sadiqi said he had been due to fly to Japan on Monday while the
team -- Khudadadi and track athlete Hossain Rasouli -- had been
scheduled to arrive in Tokyo on Aug. 17.
Taekwondo athlete Khudadadi was profiled on the Paralympic
website (http://www.paralympic.org) last week talking about her
hopes for the Games.
"I was thrilled after I received the news that I have got a wild
card to compete at the Games," said the 23-year-old from Herat.
"This is the first time that a female athlete will be
representing Afghanistan at the Games and I'm so happy," she had
said then.
Sadiqi said the athletes had been trying to secure flights, but
prices soared as the Taliban took over a string of cities.
Then it became impossible.
"They were really excited prior to the situation. They were
training wherever they could, in the parks and back gardens," he
said.
Afghan athletes first competed at the 1996 Paralympic Games but
have never won a medal.
Rohullah Nikpai became Afghanistan's first Olympic medallist in
any sport when he won bronze in taekwondo at the 2008 Beijing
Games, repeating the feat at London 2012.
Sadiqi said the future for Afghan athletes looked bleak, if the
past was anything to go by.
"There was a lot of progress, both in the Olympics and the
Paralympics," he said of recent decades. "At the national level
there was a lot of participants, a lot of athletes...but we can
only predict from what happened in the past.
"Previously during the Taliban era people couldn't compete,
couldn't participate, especially female athletes.
"For me, it's heartbreaking," he said. "This would have been the
first female Afghan taekwondo player to take part. This was
history in the making. She was excited to take part. She was
very passionate to compete.
"Zakia would have been a great role model for the rest of the
females in the country."
(Writing by Alan Baldwin, editing by Mike Collett-White)
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