Afghans defy money woes to eye wushu glory
Wushu fighter Khalid Hotak sweats in his chest padding as he spars with a teammate in a Kabul gym, defying financial worries to prepare for the Asian Games as best he can.
Afghanistan is to compete in 15 sports in Hangzhou, the nation’s first Asian Games since the Taliban seized power in 2021.
The Games, the biggest in history and boasting more competitors than the Olympics, officially open today after a delay of a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hotak and his three teammates begin their training for the Chinese combat sport, similar to kung fu, early each day at the federation’s training center, stretching and honing their techniques to bring their opponents down.
“I would often watch Chinese films... I would watch Jet Li and I liked the strength of his body and when I learned about him I realized he was a wushu fighter,” Hotak said of the Chinese-born movie star. “That’s why I went to a club and registered myself. I would stand in the back row, but then I found the potential in my body.” Hotak, 30, won bronze at the last Asian Games in 2018 — a first for Afghanistan in wushu. He is going for a medal again tomorrow, the opening day of the wushu competition in Hangzhou.
“Medals from the Asian Games are important to all of Asia, but to us they are even more important,” said the father-of-one, referring to the obstacles Afghan competitors must overcome.
Afghanistan’s economy has struggled through decades of war, a crisis deepened by international sanctions on the banking system and foreign assets after the Taliban government came to power.
The team say that the Taliban support sport, but there is no government financial backing for athletes competing on the international stage.
Hotak gets by on 13,000 Afghanis (US$165) as a sports adviser in the government’s physical education department.
His teammate, 29-year-old Nasratullah Habibi, who has won several international medals in the sport, earns a decent living by owning three wushu clubs, but he admits his family’s welfare still weighs on his mind and that young men have abandoned sport to focus on trying to find work.
“When I’m here training for the Asian Games my mind is also on my family and how I’m going to feed them, and when I’m with them I’m thinking about my upcoming matches,” Habibi said.
The team’s coach Mahfooz Wafaa said that none of the national team take a salary for their efforts.
“Everyone is training at their own expense. Some of the boys say: ‘Coach, we don’t have the money to pay the taxi fare to attend training,’ but because sport is our passion and the responsibility is on us, we have no other option but to fulfill our responsibility,” Wafaa said.
Afghanistan’s representation at international competitions since the Taliban takeover is complicated by several factors.
Atal Mashwani, spokesman for the Afghan General Directorate of Physical Education and Sports, which now manages the affairs of Afghanistan’s Olympic committee, said athletes would not bear the
Taliban government flag officially in China, but added: “What is important is they will be going and competing there representing Afghanistan.”
Besides harboring dreams of winning gold at what he says would be his last major competition, Hotak said he always wanted to encourage his children in sports.
His only child is 18 months old, but he has plans for her already.
“When she grows up I will make her a very good athlete,” he said.
At the Games yesterday, Taiwan’s women’s table tennis team defeated the Maldives 3-0 in Group C of the preliminary round at the Gongshu Canal Sports Park Gymnasium in Hangzhou.
Cheng I-ching defeated Aishath Rafa Nazim 11-3, 11-3, 11-1; Chen Szu-yu beat Laisa Fathuhulla Ismail 11-4, 11-4, 11-6; and Li Yu-jhun downed Fathimath Jumana Nimal 11-3, 11-2, 11-5.
However, they then fell to a 3-2 defeat to North Korea in their second tie.
Chen was beaten 11-8, 5-11, 11-9, 7-11, 11-6 by Kim Kum-yong; Cheng defeated Pyon Song-gyong 9-11, 11-9, 11-4, 11-4; Li was blanked 11-3, 11-8, 11-8 by Cha Su-yong; Cheng routed Kim 11-7, 11-2, 11-3; and Chen fell to a 11-8, 9-11, 11-8, 11-4 defeat to Pyon in the deciding match.
Taiwan’s men’s table tennis team also faced the Maldives in the opening tie in Group D and also cruised to 3-0 victory.
Peng Wang-wei routed Mohamed
Shaffan Ismail 11-2, 11-1, 11-5; Huang Yan-cheng beat Moosa Munsif Ahmed 11-5, 11-5, 11-7; and Liao Cheng-ting downed Akhyaar Ahmed Khalid 11-6, 11-5, 11-2.
As of press time last night, Taiwan men’s team were leading Kazakhstan 2-1 in their second tie in Group D.
Taiwan’s men’s volleyball team fell to a 25-22, 25-22, 25-21 defeat to India.