Afghanistan’s males’s solely group take pictures with a volunteer throughout a welcoming ceremony on the nineteenth Asian Video games in Hangzhou, China. AP
Within the first Asian Video games for the reason that Taliban regained management of Afghanistan, two groups of athletes are arriving within the Chinese language metropolis of Hangzhou, trying very totally different.
One, despatched from Afghanistan the place women are now banned by the Taliban from participating in sports, consists of about 130 all-male athletes, who will take part in 17 totally different sports activities, together with volleyball, judo and wrestling, Atel Mashwani, a Taliban-appointed spokesman for the Afghanistan’s Olympic Committee, advised The Related Press.
One other, competing underneath the black, pink and inexperienced flag of the elected authorities the Taliban toppled in 2021, is drawn from the diaspora of Afghan athletes world wide, and contains 17 girls, in line with Hafizullah Wali Rahimi, the president of Afghanistan’s Nationwide Olympic Committee from earlier than the Taliban took over.
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Rahimi, who now works from exterior Afghanistan however remains to be recognised by many international locations as its official consultant on Olympic issues, advised reporters on the group’s official arrival ceremony late Thursday that the athletes are there for the love of sports activities.
“We want to be keeping the sports completely out of the politics so the athletes can freely, inside and outside their country, do their sports activity and development,” he stated.
Rahimi’s contingent on the welcome ceremony was completely male, however he stated the ladies have been on their manner, consisting of a volleyball group that has been coaching in Iran, cyclists from Italy, and a consultant for athletics from Australia.
He didn’t reply to an emailed request on Friday searching for extra particulars.
The video games official opening ceremony is on Saturday.
Though the Taliban promised a extra reasonable rule than throughout their earlier interval in energy within the Nineties, they’ve imposed harsh measures since seizing Afghanistan in August 2021 as US and NATO forces have been pulling out after 20 years of battle.
They’ve barred girls from most areas of public life reminiscent of parks, gyms and work and cracked down on media freedoms. They’ve banned ladies from going to high school past the sixth grade, and prohibited Afghan girls from working at native and non-governmental organisations. The ban was prolonged to workers of the United Nations in April.
The measures have triggered a fierce worldwide uproar, rising the nation’s isolation at a time when its financial system has collapsed and worsening a humanitarian disaster.
Rahimi stated that the earlier authorities had been working exhausting to extend girls’s participation in sport for the reason that earlier Taliban regime, and that it had elevated to twenty%.
“We hope it comes back, of course,” he stated. “Not only the sport, we hope that they’ll be back allowed to schools and education, because that’s the basic rights of a human.”