Afghan athlete pleads for help to get her to Tokyo

KABUL • Afghan athlete Zakia Khudadadi pleaded for help in a bid to escape the country's capital and revive her shattered dream of becoming the country's first female competitor at a Paralympic Games.

The Afghanistan Paralympic Committee (APC) said on Monday the country's two para-athletes would not be at the Games, which will start next Tuesday, following the Taleban's takeover a day earlier. The insurgents have overrun major cities and control most of Afghanistan after ousting the previous government.

Para-taekwondo exponent Khudadadi said in a video message provided to Reuters by the APC's London-based chef de mission Arian Sadiqi that she felt "imprisoned", staying with extended family but unable to go outside with confidence.

Speaking in Farsi, she said she felt a burden, adding: "I request from you all, that I am an Afghan woman and as a representative of Afghan women, ask for you to help me.

"My intention is to participate in the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, please hold my hand and help me. I urge you all, from the women around the globe, institutions for the protection of women, from all government organisations, to not let the rights of a female citizen of Afghanistan in the Paralympic movement to be taken away so easily.

"The fact that we have lifted ourselves from this situation, that we have achieved so much, it cannot be taken lightly. I have suffered a lot, I don't want my struggle to be in vain and without any results. Help me."

Khudadadi and track athlete Hossain Rasouli were scheduled to arrive in Tokyo on Tuesday but were unable to fly out. Commercial flights have been halted with only evacuation flights allowed to resume.

But despite Khudadadi's cry for help, her dream of making history as an Afghan para-athlete is likely to be extinguished. Along with Rasouli, the duo were just last week profiled on the website of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).

But the organisation's president Andrew Parsons yesterday admitted he could do nothing to get her out of Kabul, calling it "sad" and "heartbreaking".

"There are no commercial flights. We all have seen the images from the airport in Kabul. It became clear to us right from the beginning that there would be no safe way to try to bring these athletes to Tokyo," he said.

"I saw the video message. Seeing what's happening in Afghanistan and this is shattering the dreams of one of our athletes, it is really sad and it really breaks my heart."

Parsons and the IPC will instead work on getting Khudadadi to the 2024 Paris Paralympics, but conceded it was "too soon" to discuss any plans.

On fans being barred from the Paralympics, the Brazilian calls it "a challenge", but he is confident the event will reach "more people than ever before" as it is the "only global event that puts persons with disabilities centre stage".

In a show of support, International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach will visit Japan to attend the opening ceremony and will arrive next Monday, Kyodo News reported.

REUTERS