Afghan women with disability exercise to contest Paralympics tournaments

Over three dozen women and girls, mostly with physical disabilities and riding on wheelchair were exercising basketball in a gymnasium in Kabul on Thursday, hoping to contest in the international Paralympics tournaments in the future.

Supported by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), each of the disabled players who were attiring in sport costume, was doing her best to throw the ball on to the basket.

"Playing basketball by a disabled woman in the northern Mazar-e-Sharif city seven years ago inspired me to follow suit and since then I am exercising the sport with the hope to become an basketball star one day and attend Paralympics matches outside Afghanistan," Fareshta Masiri, 20, told Xinhua.

A resident of northern Mazar-e-Sharif city and attended a four-day Paralympics match in Kabul that concluded Thursday, Masiri rejected the concept that people with physical disability are disable and can do nothing.

"People including women with disability in fact are not disable, they can do anything if they have the courage."

"Our team won the tournament contested among four teams from Mazar-e-Sharif, Herat, Jalalabad and Kabul which concluded on Thursday," Masira said proudly.

"I feel no more that I am a disabled person," another basketball player Palwasha Khaliqi said in talks with Xinhua.

Riding a wheelchair and attempting to throw the ball on to the basket, Khaliqi whispered that playing basketball on wheelchair has changed her life.

She said by using wheelchair, she can play basketball, go to school and also teaches tailoring to girls in a tailoring course in Mazar-e-Sharif city.

"I am hopeful to attend Paralympics championships outside Afghanistan one day and bring honor to my homeland," an ambitious Khaliqi said.

The post-Taliban Afghanistan has made tremendous achievements in the field of sports over the past decade.

Afghan athletes attended regional and international tournaments and brought home medals from Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Olympic Games.

The Afghan football team secured second position after India in 2015 SAFF championship.

The cricket team of Afghanistan has also made great achievements over the past decade.

The Taliban outfit during its iron-hand rule which dethroned in late 2001 had outlawed schools and sports for women and young girls and badly punished females who worked out of home.

"It was two years ago that I saw a disabled girl play basketball in Herat city and her courage virtually inspired me to do so and since then I am playing basketball," another disabled girl Shakiba, 19, from western Herat province told Xinhua inside the ICRC gymnasium.

"In addition to playing basketball, I am a physiotherapist and have been working for ICRC hospital in Herat," Shakiba said.

Backing the tournament of people with disabilities, Alberto Cairo, head of the physical rehabilitation program of the ICRC in Afghanistan who has been living in the country over the past 26 years told Xinhua that the "women tournament was about 12 games, and in the next days we are going to have men tournament that will be 26 games".