Zakia Khudadadi's dream of becoming first Afghan female Paralympian shattered due to Taliban takeover chaos

Zakia Khudadadi, a 23-year-old athlete from Herat, would have been the first woman ever to represent Afghanistan at the Paralympics but now, her dreams have been shattered as she won't be able to participate due to the ongoing political crisis in the country.

Taekwondo athlete Zakia Khudadadi and discus thrower Hossain Rasouli were scheduled to compete in the Para Games in Tokyo,to be held between August 24 and September 5.

However, the International Paralympic Committee on Monday (August 16) confirmed that both the athletes would no longer be able to travel to Japan.

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"Regrettably NPC (National Paralympic Committee) Afghanistan will no longer participate in the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games," IPC spokesman Craig Spence said.

"Due to the serious ongoing situation in the country, all airports are closed and there is no way for them to travel to Tokyo."

"We hope the team and officials remain safe and well during this difficult time," Spence said.

The Afghanistan Paralympic Committee's London-based Chef de Mission Arian Sadiqi also weighed in on the situation and said that the team "could not leave Kabul in time".

"Unfortunately due to the current upheaval going on in Afghanistan the team could not leave Kabul in time," Sadiqi told Reuters.

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Zakia Khudadadi was profiled on the Paralympic website last week talking about her hopes for the Games.

Her profile stated, "I was thrilled after I received the news that I have got a wild card to compete at the Games. This is the first time that a female athlete will be representing Afghanistan at the Games and I'm so happy. I just want to be there with the other athletes from the world and give my best. It is an opportunity to show my ability and I will be so proud to stand with all of those athlete."

Sadiqi said the athletes had been trying to secure flights but the prices soared as the Taliban took over a string of cities.

"They were really excited prior to the situation. They were training wherever they could, in the parks and back gardens," he said.

Sadiqi said the future looked bleak for the immediate future. "There was a lot of progress, both in the Olympics and the Paralympics," he said of the last 20 years. "At the national level there was a lot of participants, a lot of athletes...but we can only predict from what happened in the past."

(with inputs from agencies)