导读
东京残奥会已于8月24日开幕，有两位阿富汗的运动员却遗憾缺席比赛。23岁的跆拳道运动员扎基亚·库达达迪（Zakia Khudadadi）和田径运动员侯赛因·拉苏利 （Hossain Rasouli）原定于17日抵达东京，但由于首都喀布尔机场一片混乱，两人都未能离开。虽然没有运动员在现场，但是开幕式上，一位志愿者还是带着阿富汗国旗进入会场。Two athletes who were set to represent Afghanistan at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games were unable to travel to Japan due to the situation in Afghanistan.But it was decided that the flag would be represented in Japan as "an act of solidarity and peace", according to International Paralympic Committee President Andrew Parsons earlier in the week.▲ Afghan flag displayed in Paralympic ceremony with no athletes behind it. Photo/ICAfghanistan's two athletes, taekwondo competitor Zakia Khudadadi and track athlete Hossain Rasouli have been held back from competing at the Games due to chaos at Kabul's airport.
While the athletes hold out hopes of competing, they do not have any way of leaving Afghanistan, according to Arian Sadiqi, leader of the Afghan Paralympic Committee.Sadiqi said that he'd been scheduled to fly to Japan to meet the two athletes, who were due to land in Tokyo on Aug 17. However, their flights were canceled. Ensuing turmoil at Kabul's Hamid Karzai International Airport meant the athletes couldn't leave the country as planned."There are no commercial flights. We all have seen the images from the airport in Kabul. It became clear to us right from the beginning that there will be no safe way to try to bring these athletes to Tokyo," the International Paralympic Committee President Andrew Parsons told media in an interview. "We hope the team and officials remain safe and well during this difficult time."
The Afghanistan taekwondoka Khudadadi traveled from her home in Herat province to Kabul in the past week to board a flight that would make history. She was going to be her country's first woman to compete in the Paralympic Games later this month.
But between her arrival in Kabul and the time she was set to depart for Tokyo, the Taliban had taken over Afghanistan's capital. In a video message, Khudadadi made a plea for help on Tuesday as she sought to escape Kabul and revive her shattered dream of becoming the country's first female competitor at the Paralympic Games while still stuck in a city where she's afraid to even go outside. "I request from you all… on behalf of all Afghan women to help me," she said. "My intention is to participate in the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, please hold my hand and help me."
"Please, I request you all — especially all the women from around the globe and the female institutions and the United Nations — to not let the rights of a female citizen of Afghanistan in the Paralympic movement to be taken away so easily."
IPC President Andrew Parsons said the video was truly heartbreaking: "I saw the video message. By seeing what's happening in Afghanistan and this is shattering the dreams of one of our athletes, it is really sad and it really breaks my heart." Parsons added that the committee would work with the Afghan team to support her in pursuing her dream again, including possibly competing at the Games in Paris in 2024. But now is "too soon" to discuss plans, he said."It's something that goes way, way, way, way bigger than sports. And we are first concerned in Afghanistan as a nation and with the human beings, especially the females of that nation. I think first, the nation needs to define its own destiny." An IPC spokesperson further said that the athletes are still eligible to compete and confirmed that it's up to the National Paralympic Committee of Afghanistan to change the athletes' participation status.来源：BBC CNN Reuters NPR WSJClick here for audio and translation of the story