Amid crisis in home country, Afghan athlete makes debut at Tokyo Paralympics
Aug 31, 2021
Tokyo [Japan], August 31 : After being evacuated from his war-torn country, Afghan athlete Hossain Rasouli participated in a long jump event at the Tokyo Paralympics on Tuesday.
Rasouli has become the first athlete to represent Afghanistan in the Tokyo Paralympics. It almost appeared to be an impossible task for Afghanistan players to reach Tokyo during a catastrophic turmoil in their country, Japan's Kyodo News said. The 26-year-old athlete arrived in Tokyo three days ago.
He competed in the men's T47 long jump and finished the last of the 13 jumpers who took part with the best leap of 4.46 meters, Kyodo News added.
Rasouli was scheduled to compete in the men's T47 100 meters but arrived too late.
In 2013, Rasouli lost his forearm when a Taliban-laid landmine exploded while he was farming.
Rasouli and Zakia Khudadadi are representing Afghanistan at the Tokyo Paralympics.
Both arrived in Tokyo on Saturday evening from Paris. They had been in the French capital for about a week following their evacuation, which was made possible by a multinational effort.
On Thursday, Khudadadi is scheduled to compete in the women's taekwondo K44-49kg category. She will be the first female Afghan athlete to compete in the Paralympics since 2004, according to Kyodo News.
