The Prime Minister’s Office of the Islamic Emirate awarded cars and motorcycles as gifts to outstanding and medal-winning athletes.
These athletes had won gold, silver, and bronze medals by excelling in the Asian Youth Championships hosted by Bahrain and the Islamic Solidarity Games hosted by Saudi Arabia.
The honored athletes say that such recognition by government officials motivates them to work harder to achieve even greater successes.
Athlete Ahmad Faiz Ebrahimi said: “As long as blood flows in our veins, we will fight for our country and Afghanistan and bring honors. These gifts and encouragement from the government motivate us even more to train ten times harder than before and achieve better results.”
Ali Ahmadi, a member of the national youth futsal team, said: “These gifts, appreciation, and ceremonies give us the motivation to fight even harder in the name of Afghanistan.”
Officials of the National Olympic Committee say that last year was a year full of sporting achievements for Afghanistan. According to them, after 20 years Afghanistan was able to win gold and silver medals at major international competitions.
They add that in addition to providing athletic training, ideological education is also given to athletes, with the aim of ensuring better representation of Afghanistan on international stages.
Ahmadullah Wasiq, President of the National Olympic Committee, said: “Thanks be to God, this year we achieved unprecedented accomplishments in sports. After 20 years, Afghanistan won such historic medals. Twenty years ago, Afghanistan’s sports had only one silver medal, but today we have gold medals from international arenas. This is the first time in Afghanistan’s sports history and shows that the current government stands behind sports and supports it.”
Ahmad Jan Zadran, the professional and technical deputy of the National Olympic Committee, said: “We view sports as a valuable social phenomenon and consider it a cause of unity and harmony among nations. We strive to train athletes equipped with Islamic and Afghan values so that, on one hand, they represent Afghanistan well abroad, and on the other hand, play a full role in the reform and development of society as trained youth.”
Other officials have also praised the efforts of Afghan athletes for representing Afghanistan well in international arenas and have assured them of full government support.
They also call on businesspeople to support athletes in the future so that even more honors can be achieved.
Islamic Emirate spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said: “Throughout the year, we also achieved many honors in sports that brought Afghanistan to global attention. This is a shared pride and honor for our nation. Officials of the Islamic Emirate consider it their duty to recognize and support medal-winning youth as role models. It is their right for the nation to support and encourage them in every way. Our private sector and wealthy individuals should also encourage our athletes, because you know the system faces economic difficulties and cannot bear the entire burden alone.”
The Office of the Prime Minister also said that Afghanistan’s name is tied to its athletes, and when they win competitions, the world mentions Afghanistan by name. Therefore, the government is committed to supporting its athletes.
Abdul Wasi, head of the Prime Minister’s Office, said: “This championship does not belong only to these individuals; it belongs to all of Afghanistan. Because if, God forbid, these athletes fail in an arena, the failure is attributed to Afghanistan and it is said Afghanistan lost. If they succeed, the victory is also attributed to Afghanistan and it is said Afghanistan won.”
The National Olympic Committee also says it is trying to present the true and real image of Afghanistan to the world through sports. According to committee officials, 1.3 million athletes are registered with them and are training across 52 different sports disciplines.
