Lifter wants medal, sport for disabled Afghans

KABUL - Limping on his prosthetic leg as he crosses a barren room scattered with a motley collection of weights, powerlifter Mohammad Fahim Rahimi laments the poverty and neglect preventing the large number of disabled Afghans from pursuing sport.

The 29-year-old is the only Afghan athlete to have qualified for this year's Paralympics in London, but there is hope that the Games will highlight the fate of Afghanistan's estimated two million disabled people.

"I want to make my country proud, to bring back a medal," said Rahimi, whose right leg was blown off above the knee by a Soviet landmine when he was 12 years old.

"But no money for the bus fare means my students often can't make it here, and I don't even train on a standard bench," he told Reuters, pointing to the mismatched weights on his dumbbell.

Poverty, conflict and, grimly, more powerful bombs mean Afghanistan has a large number of physically disabled people, most of whom are unemployed, victimised and face widespread discrimination in a country where they are seen as weak.

Afghanistan is now hoping the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) will offer four other athletes "wild cards" for the August Games meaning they can compete without qualifying on normal criteria.

Their injuries and inflictions reflect Afghanistan's violent history, from the Soviet invasion in 1979 to the NATO-led war against Taliban insurgents started just over a decade ago.

They include a shooting hopeful who lost both legs during a Taliban attack as the group swept to power in the 1990s to a swimmer whose legs were taken off above the knee by a landmine in the capital Kabul.

"Three decades of war have left so many Afghans disabled and we hope the Paralympics will encourage them," said Mohammad Sami Darayi, the head of Afghanistan's Paralympic Committee.

"But for this, we'll also need a proper budget," he added, echoing concerns voiced by Afghanistan's taekwondo athletes going to the Olympics.