Afghan athlete Zakia Khudadadi wins first-ever medal for Refugee Paralympic Team | BBC News

Published: Aug 30, 2024 Duration: 00:04:07 Category: News & Politics

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now history's been made on the first day of the par Olympic Games in Paris when Zakia kadadi who was born in Afghanistan became the first athlete from the refugee team to win a medal kadad who was born without a forearm took Bronze in ta quondo on Thursday and dedicated her medal to all the women in Afghanistan and all the refugees well let's get more on this my colleague Zari kaga is following the story for us just tell us about this win yes it was a historic win for Zakia kadadi who is 25 years old she learned taekwando she played taekwando at her home at the age of 11 and then she went on to become an athlete for the par Olympic team in Afghanistan and then she did compete in the 2021 Tokyo par Olympic games uh and uh that was when the Taliban took power in Afghanistan and all sports were banned for women so she was evacuated to France uh as a refugee and since then she has been training in France with French coaches uh as a par Olympic Athlete and she defeated her Turkish counterpart last night and I watched the moment of her when when she throws her helmet away her mouthpiece away and it was just an absolute moment of joy for many Afghans and many Afghan women who watched her win and many refugees I guess around the world and and what is the reaction online that you can see because it comes at a particular moment again for Afghanistan exactly as you say it comes at a moment where Taliban have announced a law that restricts many movements of women voices of women in the country and it has been a historic win for women in particularly and they have gone on social media platforms to show reaction prominent women I can name a few of them here fisha Basi who is a prominent women rights activist she went on ex and she wrote zakya you are the light and hope of Afghan women and then she goes on to say keep going sister we hear you see you and applaud you with tearful eyes the account of Afghan women on social media has been quite emotional because it as you said it comes at a heavy moment for them a dark moment for Afghan women inside the country another prominent women Mariam suan K who used to be an MP A Member of Parliament she was also evacuated in 2021 she was not allowed to work there anymore she writes I have tears in my eyes this is what Afghan women can accomplish when they are given a chance and uh other Afghan women men have gone to social media to talk and to uh Express their joy and also emotions about the wind that zakya brought for them for example one uh Afghan woman journalist who used to be a leading face of leading TVs in Afghan faran who now lives in America she says for the first time in Afghan history a female athlete who is keep the Taliban has won a bronze medal tonight at the par Olympic Games it mean she means last night and she says this medal is not bronze it's gold for us for Afghan women so it has brought a total joy for women but I also spoke to women inside the country they are kind of waking up to the news because it happened last night and uh one of one young woman told me that they are a bit afraid of expressing the joy that women in diaspora can at the moment because a lot of restrictions are imposed on them uh by the Taliban and just very very very quickly how the team training where are they the Afghan Refugee team the Afghan Refugee team teams are everywhere they're in Paris mostly we we have taekwondo players we have other uh par Olympians who are training but they are everywhere at the moment as you can see afans are have gone around the world since 2021 it's an incredible story thank you for bringing that to Zari kaga thank you so much

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