Safe in Spain, Afghan Women's Basketball Star Hopes to Play Again

Established 1961 15 Sports Wednesday, August 25, 2021 Safe in Spain, Afghan women’s basketball star hopes to play again Bayat reached Madrid after ‘nerve-wracking escape’ from Kabul BILBAO: As captain of Afghanistan’s been in too many videos and spoken this former law student. wheelchair basketball team and a about the Taleban, about all I’ve done in women’s rights activist, Nilofar Bayat basketball and working for women’s ‘Others are still there’ fled for her life when the Taleban took rights in Afghanistan. There can be a big With the help of several German sol- over, seeking safety in Spain where she case for the Taleban to kill me and my diers, they managed to get in but spent hopes to soon be back on the court. family.” two days there in the blazing Kabul sun Speaking to reporters in the northern With the help of the Spanish embassy with “nothing to sleep on.. and not city of Bilbao just days after arriving on she managed to secure a seat on a plane, enough food” before finally being flown a Spanish military plane, this 28-year-old and set off for the airport where she out on a Spanish military plane. athlete spoke of her shock at how quick- found scenes of chaos with the Taleban But she’s acutely aware that in getting ly the Taleban swept into the capital away, she was one of the lucky ones. Kabul and of her struggle to get out. “I’m luckier than other Afghan people “I really want the UN and all coun- in that I’ve left and am here and can tries to help Afghanistan.. because the start a new life. But I’m just one per- Taleban are the same as they were 20 They don’t son, others are still there,” she said. years ago,” she said. “If you see When the Taleban were in power Afghanistan now, it’s all men, there are accept women in the late 1990s, a rocket hit Bayat’s no women because they don’t accept family home when she was just two- women as part of society.” as part years-old. In the attack, her brother After a nerve-wracking escape, was killed, her father was injured and she and her husband Ramesh, who of society she lost a leg. BILBAO: The captain of Afghanistan’s women’s wheelchair basketball team Nilofar plays for Afghanistan’s national bas- “They changed my life forever, Bayat poses in the Spanish Basque city of Bilbao on Monday. —AFP ketball team, landed at an airbase just they caused pain and something that outside Madrid on Friday and are now shooting and beating people to stop I’ll carry forever in my life,” said Bayat. “I attacks or polio, Bayat became interest- ability,” she said. She came to Spain with starting a new life in Bilbao. them reaching the airport. am the best proof of how dangerous the ed in wheelchair basketball after seeing the help of a Spanish journalist friend “When the Taleban came and I saw “It was a really difficult day.. I’ve nev- Taleban are.. and how living in the men play and went on to play a key and has received “many offers” to play them around my home, I was scared and er seen this much danger in my country. I Afghanistan is hard and difficult: there is role in setting up an Afghan women’s with wheelchair basketball teams, includ- I started to think about myself and my cried a lot, not because they beat me or no future and no hope.” team. “When I’m in the gym and playing ing one from Bidaideak Bilbao BSR, with family,” said Bayat after the insurgents my husband, but because of who had In a country where many people have basketball, I forget what’s happening in whom she hopes to start playing “as swept into the capital on August 15. “I’ve taken control of the country,” explained been left with disabilities due to the my country and also that I have a dis- soon as possible”. — AFP appearing at AfroBasket in 1993, the Australian coach blazes trail for team make their return to the top-tier continental championships which run the Rwandan capital Kigali from August 24 women in African basketball to September 5. NAIROBI: When she was growing up says, adding that she was often over- in Australia’s biggest city of Sydney, Liz looked because of her age and her gen- ‘More inches’ Mills dreamt of one day becoming a der. Mills says she is now proud to be a “Back in 2012 I said in Zambia that I professional basketball coach. Little did “pioneer” as a female coach. “I hope that wanted to be the first woman to coach at she know that she would end up having I’ve been able to inspire especially the AfroBasket,” says Mills. “Qualifying fame thrust upon her thousands of kilo- female coaches in Africa to start working the Kenyan Morans is a dream which has meters away in Africa, where she has with men’s teams as well as women’s come true. There have been a lot of ups- made history as the first woman to teams across the continent.” and-downs to get here, but I am very coach a men’s basketball team in a con- But she says that in 2021 she should happy to have been able to achieve this.” tinental tournament. not be the first woman to be coaching a On the court, she wears knee-high After a decade in Africa, Mills is national men’s basketball team, and black leather boots and black jeans now head coach of the Kenyan Morans called on federations to do more to along with a red team polo shirt, saying NAIROBI: Kenyan Men’s National Basketball team head coach Liz Mills (center) talks and in just a short time has steered engage women and girls. “I am planning the heels give her “more inches” along- with the national team after the training session at the Nyayo national stadium gym- them to their first AfroBasket champi- on holding the door open and encourag- side the towering players. Mills saw the nasium in Nairobi on August 20, 2021. —AFP onship in 28 years. From Australia, ing as many women through the door... Morans edge out 11-times African cham- Mills started out on her African adven- so hopefully in the next couple of years pions Angola 74-73 in Cameroon in better and better, with the development success as a coach, Mills puts it down to ture in 2011 in Zambia, where she it will be the 100th or 500th to do what February to break their almost three- of the NBA academies, Giants of Africa, her philosophy of building good rela- coached the Heroes during the 2011- I’ve done this year.” decade absence from the continent’s Basketball Without Borders, independent tionships with her players. “Players don’t 2012 season and they ended up win- Having served as deputy coach of the basketball showpiece. She voices confi- camps for juniors and academies. With care about how much you know until ning the national championship. national Zambia and Cameroon men’s dence that African basketball is heading all these structures in place, basketball in they know how much you care about “I was a bit of rarity... I felt discrimi- basketball teams, Mills joined the Kenyan for bigger and better things. Africa is trending in the right direction.” them, and not just a player but as a per- nated in terms of opportunities,” she Morans in January this year. After last “I think the standards are only getting Asked about the secret of her own son on the court.” — AFP Kuwait women’s handball team heads for Bosnia training camp KUWAIT: Kuwait women’s handball team leaves today to Bosnia for a training camp in preparation for the 18th Asian Women’s Handball Championship, due to be hosted by Jordan on September 15-25. The ‘Blue’ team will be within Group B along with Jordan, Afghanistan, India, Iran and Japan, as this championship is a qualification for World Cup scheduled to be hosted by Spain at the end of this year. Women’s Handball Committee Vice President Dr Dalal Hussain said yesterday that the 10-day camp comes in preparation for the first abroad participation, hoping to strengthen the player’s performance and achieve a great level. Meanwhile, the team’s coach Bobaker Zermani said despite the short period of preparation, the team is ready for this championship as the KUWAIT: Members of the Kuwait women’s handball team, management and coaching staff. — KUNA camp would also improve their level for more upcoming events. — KUNA.

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