Afghan’s harrowing trip to realise dream
AFTER a dramatic evacuation from Taliban-held Kabul and a secret operation to fly him to Tokyo, Afghan Paralympian Hossain Rasouli beat the odds on Tuesday to compete in the long jump.
It was not the event he had been expecting to contest, after qualifying for the 100m T47, but then just about everything in his world was turned upside down with the insurgents’ capture of his homeland.
After the militant group overran the capital, he and fellow Afghan Paralympian Zakia Khudadadi found themselves trapped and with no way to get to Tokyo.
It seemed their Paralympic dream was over, and a Tokyo volunteer symbolically carried the Afghan flag at the opening ceremony when no athletes were there to take part.
However, over the weekend officials said the pair had been successfully flown out of the country.
After a stop in Dubai, they were taken to Paris and spent a week at the French sports ministry’s high-performance training centre before flying to Tokyo, where they arrived on Saturday evening.
IPC spokesman Craig Spence said on Tuesday that Rasouli was “super excited to be competing today”.
The Afghan emerged from the athletes’ entrance on Tuesday with a wave to team officials dotted around the mostly empty Olympic Stadium.
Rasouli, whose left hand was amputated as the result of a mine explosion, then pointed to the Afghanistan Paralympic Committee logo on his vest.
The 26-year-old finished last, reflecting his comparative inexperience in the discipline.
Khudadadi will compete in taekwondo on Thursday.