Prejudice faced by Afghan women with a disability has proved no barrier to its national wheelchair basketball team. These Afghan women are very hopeful for Paralympic gold. Nilofar Bayat a 24-year-old team captain played her first wheelchair basketball game in the middle of Kabul, surrounded by males who looked on and insulted her by calling her names and saying derogatory statements. Today Bayat is preparing to qualify for the next year’s Paralympic games in Tokyo- a tough challenge but nothing that the team cannot overcome. Due to insecurities many training sessions are cancelled for securities reasons and the woman feel alone they don’t have the support needed from family. The woman families feel that their safety is put in jeopardy playing wheelchair basketball in such tough conditions. Even after getting married many woman of the team dropped out of the basketball tournament. The husbands said they were concerned about the safety of their wives playing in the “tough circumstances” especially internationally.Just tw0 years ago the Afghanistan’s female national wheelchair basketball team only started competing internationally two years ago, at the Bali Cup. The inexperience of the team did not stop them for taking home the gold either. The 12 team roster has since participated in the Asian Para Games and will travel to Thailand later this year for a chance to compete and qualify for the Tokyo games in 2020. Since 2012 the Afghanistan national wheelchair team now have their own gym snug between Kabul’s hills, offering some type of privacy and security to the team from the staring crowds. In 2014 the country’s wheelchair basketball federation was recognised internationally, paving the way for the women to compete around the world. This story here proves how you should never stop chasing you dreams. If you want something go after it until you achieve it never stop. The males who taunted the women when they first organized this group are now fans who sit at home and cheer them on to each and every victory.
Group 4 