Zakia Khudadadi also spelt as Zakia Khodadadi ( ps, ذکیه خدادادی; born 29 September 1998)
is an Afghan
parataekwondo practitioner. She is the first Afghan female taekwondo practitioner. She rose to prominence after winning the African International Parataekwondo Championship in 2016 at the age of 18. She represented
Afghanistan at the 2020 Summer Paralympics. She was initially denied the opportunity to compete at her maiden Paralympics due to the
Taliban takeover but she was later allowed by the
International Paralympic Committee to compete in the event after being safely evacuated from Afghanistan.
She was able to compete and became the first Afghan female Paralympic competitor to compete at the Paralympics after 17 years since
Mareena Karim's participation at the
2004 Summer Paralympics
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, nations = 136
, athletes = 3,806
, events = 519 in 19 sports
, opening = 17 September
, closing = 28 September
, opened_by = President Costis Stephanopoulos
, cauldron = Georgios Toptsis
, stadium = Olympi ...
.
She also officially became the first Afghan female sportsperson to participate in an international sporting event after the Taliban takeover.
Biography
Khudadadi is originally from
Herat Province
Herat ( Persian: ) is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, located in the north-western part of the country. Together with Badghis, Farah, and Ghor provinces, it makes up the north-western region of Afghanistan. Its primary city a ...
. She has only one functional arm.
Career
Khudadadi was motivated to take up the sport of taekwondo since Afghanistan's only Olympic medals came in taekwondo in
2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
and
2012
File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...
. She was inspired by
Rohullah Nikpai
Rohullah Nikpai ( prs, روحالله نیکپا; born June 15, 1987) is an ethnic Hazara taekwondo practitioner and two-time Olympic bronze medalist from Afghanistan.
Career
Nikpai started his training in Kabul, Afghanistan, at the age of ...
, who is highly regarded as Afghanistan's first (and currently only)
Olympic medalist
This article includes lists of all Olympic medalists since 1896, organized by each Olympic sport or discipline, and also by Olympiad.
Medalist with most medals by sport Summer Olympic sports
Winter Olympic sports
A. Including military patrol e ...
.
After the
downfall of the Taliban in 2001 she, like many other women in Afghanistan, was encouraged to compete in sporting events just like men did. However, she had most of her training sessions at home and in her backyard as her opportunities to represent the local clubs were hampered due to the presence of
Taliban
The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalist, militant Islamist, jihadist, and Pasht ...
in her home province of Herat.
She won the 2016 African International Parataekwondo Championship held in Egypt.
She received wild card entry to participate in the delayed Tokyo
2020 Summer Paralympics, where she was chosen as one of the two competitors from Afghanistan alongside track athlete
Hossain Rasouli. Khudadadi qualified to compete in the women's K44 Under-49 kg event.
She left her parents and travelled to
Kabul
Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...
in order to train in preparation for the Summer Paralympics. However, Afghanistan's participation in the games was imperiled following the
Fall of Kabul to the
Taliban
The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalist, militant Islamist, jihadist, and Pasht ...
. Afghan athletes were also unable to leave Kabul due to the closure of the airports. Khudadadi went into hiding from the Taliban and publicly requested immediate help in order to safely leave Afghanistan and take part at the Tokyo Paralympics. She was confirmed to be on the evacuation list of Spain.
On 28 August 2021, Khudadadi, alongside her male compatriot Hossain Rasouli, arrived in Tokyo after being airlifted from Kabul to Paris by the
Royal Australian Air Force
"Through Adversity to the Stars"
, colours =
, colours_label =
, march =
, mascot =
, anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...
as part of
international evacuation efforts, ending the uncertainties which prevailed regarding Afghanistan's participation at the Tokyo Paralympics.
The President of the International Paralympic Committee,
Andrew Parsons, announced that both of the Afghan athletes would not be available for interviews and that permission had been granted to them to skip the usual press conferences.
On 2 September 2021, she competed in the
round of 16 event at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics and lost the round to
Ziyodakhon Isakova of Uzbekistan.
Khudadadi subsequently qualified to the repechage round but lost to Ukraine's
Viktoriia Marchuk.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Khudadadi, Zakia
1998 births
Living people
Afghan female taekwondo practitioners
People from Herat Province
Afghan amputees
Paralympic taekwondo practitioners of Afghanistan
Amputee category Paralympic competitors