Afghanistan’s Zakia Khudadadi takes part in first Paralympic Games Taekwondo Competition

By Barrier Free Japan with extracts from the AP via The Mainichi

TOKYO (AP) — Afghan athlete Zakia Khudadadi got her chance to compete in the Tokyo Paralympics on Thursday. The Tokyo 2020 Games is the first time taekwondo has been a Paralympic event.

Khudadadi, one of two Afghans participating in the Paralympics, lost her first-round match in taekwondo in the 44-49-kilogram weight class to Ziyodakhon Isakova of Uzbekistan 17-12.

She also dropped a losers’ bracket match against Viktoriia Marchuk of Ukraine 48-34.

Teammate Hossain Rasouli competed on Tuesday in the long jump, where he finished last. Rasouli is a sprinter, but he arrived several days too late to run in the 100-meter race.

The Afghan athletes arrived in Tokyo days after the Paralympics opened, both fleeing Kabul for Paris, and then on to Tokyo.

Neither Khudadadi nor Rasouli have spoken in public since arriving, and officials have allowed them to skip interviews with reporters to protect their privacy.