Australia grants asylum to Afghanistan’s flag bearer at Tokyo’2020

Australia has granted asylum to Olympic sprinter Kimia Yousofi, Afghanistan’s flag bearer at the Tokyo Olympics, along with thirty other people who are at risk for their support of women’s rights in that country, the media reported. official source on Wednesday.

“Essentially, I am starting a new life here. I will train hard and it will be exciting to go to Paris, I will definitely compete,” said Yousufi, who came to Australia with her mother and one. of his three siblings, in a statement released today by the Australian Olympic Committee (COA).

Yousufi and 31 other people arrived in Australia in recent weeks as refugees because of the “significant danger” they faced in Afghanistan as a result of their “support for women’s participation in sports and education,” the entity said.

The COA indicated that in addition to Yousufi, who also participated in the Rio Games and carried his country’s flag at that event, Australian Olympic volleyball authorities also seized Asian Games taekwondo medalist Ahmad Abasy, as well as two related family.

“We have Olympians in the group, as well as sports administrators who especially champion women’s sports through recruitment, training and officiating programs,” COA executive director Matt Carroll said in a statement from the Olympic body.

The group of 31 people arrived in Australia between the beginning of June and last week, as part of the COA’s efforts for their “safe exit” from Afghanistan, after the Taliban returned to power on August 15, 2021. .

Since the interim Taliban government has imposed a wave of restrictions on Afghan women, from imposing the burqa to staying at home and other restrictions such as their access to work, Australia has welcomed more than a hundred Afghan sportswomen and their families.