Basketball provides solace for disabled Afghans injured in war with Taliban

  • 3/10/2018
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BANGKOK: An explosion tore through Nilofar Bayat’s leg when she was just two, but as she spins her wheelchair across a basketball court in Bangkok, the Afghan sportswoman is determined to turn her story from tragedy to triumph. The 23-year-old captain of the Afghan women’s wheelchair basketball team is in Thailand this week in a bid to qualify for the Asian Para Games for the first time. “This is a big job. When I come, I represent Afghanistan in other countries. I want to show that Afghanistan is not just Taliban,” said Bayat, whose brother was killed in the same attack that resulted in the loss of her leg. Her life reflects the squad’s remarkable journey against a backdrop of unrelenting violence. When the International Committee for the Red Cross set up its wheelchair basketball program in Afghanistan some eight years ago, the goal was not to win competitions. Instead, the chief aim was to provide fitness and rehab in a country with a large disabled population — many of whom, like Bayat, lost their limbs in attacks. Other victims have suffered polio, with Afghanistan one of just three nations worldwide where the disease still retains a grip, due to the disruption of health services and the Taliban’s opposition to vaccination.

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