Taekwondo, football: these Afghan sportsmen who have marked the history of their country
Taekwondoist Rohullah Nikpai and cricketer Rashid Khan, sports icons of Afghanistan.
RFI editing.
© Getty Images / Hannah Peters / Nigel Roddis
Text by: Tom Rossi Follow
7 mins
While Afghanistan is now under the control of the Taliban, many athletes fear for their future.
It promises to be especially dark for women who were not allowed to practice sport when they were in power in the 1990s. It is also after their fall in 2001 that the sporting history of country is written.
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From the beginning of the 2000s and the departure of the
Taliban
from power, the practice of sport developed in Afghanistan and gradually opened up to women.
This has fostered the emergence of great Afghan athletes.
Rohullah Nikpai, first and only Olympic medalist
He is the first and still the only Afghan Olympic medalist in history.
Taekwondoist Rohullah Nikpai is even a double medalist since he won bronze at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing (-58 kilos), then four years later in London (-68 kilos).
In China, he achieved the feat, at the age of 21, of dismissing in the first round the three-time German European champion Levent Tuncat before falling against the future Olympic champion, the Mexican Guillermo Pérez.
Through the repechage, he obtained a historic bronze medal by beating the double world champion, the Spaniard Juan Antonio Ramos.
It then changes category, moving to less than 68 kilos.
In 2011, he finished third in the worlds before winning a new bronze medal at the 2012 Olympics in London.
A great feat.
Afghan taekwondoist Rohullah Nikpah after winning the bronze medal bout at the London Olympics on August 9, 2012. Getty Images - Hannah Peters
Nesar Ahmad Bahawi, double flag bearer
Despite his exploits, Rohullah Nikpai was never a standard bearer.
In 2008 and 2012, it was another taekwondoist who had this honor twice in a row: Nesar Ahmad Bahawi.
When he arrived in Beijing, he was an icon in his country as vice-world champion in 2007 in the under 72 kg category.
This silver medal he obtained thanks to his victory in the semifinals against the reigning two-time Olympic champion Iranian Hadi Saei.
On the other hand, he did not manage to repeat this kind of feat at the Olympic Games.
Khalida Popal, so that football becomes feminine
She is one of the women who created the Afghanistan women's football team in 2007, and has always fought for this selection to continue to exist. This should no longer be possible on Afghan soil.
Khalida Popal was captain in the team's first international match, lost 13-0 to Nepal, in December 2010. For her and her teammates, the score didn't matter. The symbol was essential for this ardent defender of women's rights: “I
” was one of the people who created the team in order to remain united as the women of Afghanistan. We wanted to send a message to the world and to the Taliban
:
'We [women] are not weak, you can kill our sisters, but we will show you that we are on their side
.
Former Afghan soccer player Khalida Popal speaks at the FIFA annual conference on equality and inclusion in Zurich on March 6, 2017. © FIFA via Getty Images - Valeriano Di Domenico - FIFA
Threatened with death on several occasions, Khalida Popal fled her country in 2011 and obtained asylum in Denmark in 2016. There, she created the “Girl Power Organization” to promote the integration of young girls through sport and education, in Europe and the Middle East.
Now 34 years old, she is busy trying to get her former football team partners, who are currently in danger in their country, to leave Afghanistan.
Mansur Faqiryar, the title keeper
On the men's side, the football team played its first match in 1941 against Iran (0-0).
72 years later, she won her first title at the 2013 South Asian Championship, thanks in large part to her goalkeeper Mansur Faqiryar.
Afghan goalkeeper Mansur Faqiryar in Oldenburg colors, August 17, 2013. Bongarts / Getty Images - Matthias Kern
The player who was playing in the German fourth division at VfB Oldenburg at the time was voted best player of the tournament.
Thanks to his saves, his team conceded only two goals in five games and were able to win the final 2-0 against the Indians double title holders and who had largely dominated them two years earlier at the same stage of the competition (4-0).
Since then, the Afghan selection, still absent from the Asian Cup, has not won this South Asian championship.
Rashid Khan, world cricket star
In Afghanistan, the king sport is not football but cricket.
So much so that the Taliban have indicated that men will still be able to practice it, in an attempt to perhaps one day become as good as the star of the country: Rashid Khan.
Afghan Rashid Khan during a 2019 Cricket World Cup match, England.
Getty Images - Clive Mason
At 22, the pitcher was voted best player of the decade in Twenty20 international (T20I) last December, a form of cricket that is played between national teams and whose matches are shorter (no more than three hours).
The one who plays for an English club recently launched an appeal for donations, via his foundation, to meet the basic needs of his compatriots, victims of the Taliban offensive.
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