By Saurabh Duggal

It was during the 2012 London Olympics when I got a chance to meet Afghanistan’s legendary Taekwondo player Rohullah Nikpai. He was the first athlete from Afghanistan to win an Olympic medal at the 2008 Beijing Games. He also won his second Olympic medal – bronze – in London.

Afghanistan has participated in the Olympics since 1936 – except for 1952, 1976, 1984, 1992 and 2000 – and till date they have two Olympic medals, both the bronze medals were won by Nikpai, making him an Afghanistan’s sports legend.

It was two days after Nikpai won bronze in the men’s 68kg at the London Olympics I met him at the Games Village’s mixed zone. I was waiting there for India’s hockey star Sardar Singh for an interview, while Nikpai was also there with South Korean coach Sin-hak Min and the officials from Iran Olympic Committee – Nikpai had picked up the sport at an Afghan refugee camp in Iran – had come to see him. By the time Sardar Singh came, I got an opportunity to met Nikpai.

An athlete coming from South Asian region and winning two individual Olympic medals is a great achievement. And Nikpai’s triumph became even bigger as he hails from a war-torn country and started learning Taekwondo in a refugee camp in Iran where his parents had fled during Taliban rule.

Nikpai is a great athlete as well as a great human being. Though there was a language barrier and he was not comfortable in English, he tried his best to explain to me what all I was asking about him and sports in Afghanistan.  

He didn’t get hefty cash awards for his Beijing Olympic medal, but he was happy that his Olympic medal encouraged youth in his country to pursue the sport with an aim to achieve big in an international arena.  

I still remember Nikpai’s lines that his Olympic medal would make people back home forget the troubles and the sports could play an important role in bringing peace in Afghanistan.

With the Taliban in control, uncertainty and fear grip Afghanistan. Hope peace will soon prevail there.