Arian Sadiqi, the Chief de Mission of the Afghanistan delegates for Asian Para Games on Thursday in Jakarta stated that Afghanistan's participation in the Asian Para Games was an achievement for Afghanistan. He said that considering the current conditions of war facing the Afghan people. Nevertheless, he stated that the Afghan athletes for the games tried to get the highest achievement at the Asian Para Games in Jakarta. Apart from the war conditions facing the Afghan people, Arian Sadiqi said that Afghan athletes had trained to compete at the Asian Para Games scheduled to he held on 6 to 13 October 2018.
"Yes, the fact that we are here and participating in a big game, and we are hoping that despite the war and obstacles we have, we try our best to be part of the international family and to move forward. Preparation is fine but obviously because we have lack of infrastructure, lack of training facilities, we don't have the capacity to really compete with international neighbors but we wish our best and God willing we will win something," Arian Sadiqi said.
The Afghan Athlete Delegation targets to get 5 or 6 gold medals at the Asian Para Games competition. Arian Sadiqi said the Afghan delegation consists of 17 officials and 24 athletes. The 2018 Asian Para Games will be attended by 2,831 athletes from 43 countries. They will compete in 18 sports. As the host, Indonesia sent around 300 athletes with targets to enter the top 10 with 16 or 17 gold medals. (VOI/Andy/AHM)