TOKYO: Afghanistan's Hossain Rasouli competes in the final of the men's long jump -T47 at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games at the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo yesterday. - AFP

TOKYO: After a dramatic evacuation from Taleban-held Kabul and a secret operation to fly him to Tokyo, Afghan Paralympian Hossain Rasouli beat the odds yesterday to compete in the long jump. It was not the event he had been expecting to contest, after qualifying for the 100m T47, but then just about everything in his world was turned upside down with the insurgents' capture of his homeland.

After the militant group overran the capital, he and fellow Afghan Paralympian Zakia Khudadadi found themselves trapped, with no way to get to Tokyo. At first, it seemed their Paralympic dream was over. A Tokyo 2020 volunteer symbolically carried the Afghan flag during the Games opening ceremony, with no athletes on the ground to take part.

Over the weekend though, officials revealed the Afghan pair had been successfully flown out of the country. After a stop in Dubai, they were taken to Paris and spent a week at the French sports ministry's high-performance training center before flying to Tokyo, where they arrived on Saturday evening. The pair are being kept away from the media, with the International Paralympic Committee saying the athletes needed space to focus on their sport. But IPC spokesman Craig Spence said yesterday that Rasouli was "super excited to be competing today".

The Afghan emerged from the athletes' entrance yesterday with a wave to team officials dotted around the mostly empty Olympic Stadium. Rasouli, whose left hand was amputated as the result of a mine explosion, then proudly pointed towards the Afghanistan Paralympic Committee logo on his vest. The 26-year-old finished last, reflecting his comparative inexperience in the discipline -- it was his first time taking part in long jump in a major competition. Still, Spence said, "it was great to see him" on what was "a very special occasion". Khudadadi will compete in taekwondo tomorrow.

Golden Storey

Elsewhere, there was joy for British cycling great Sarah Storey, who won the C5 road time trial at Fuji International Speedway to equal swimmer Mike Kenny's all-time British Paralympic Games record of 16 gold medals. "I've been preparing for this race for such a long time. The time trial is probably one of my favorite events," she said afterwards. "It's the 'race of truth'. It's you against the clock, and trying to pick off your competitors as you see them."

Storey, who was born without a functioning left arm, has broken 76 world records and shows no sign of slowing down. The 43-year-old competes next in Thursday's road race, where she will have the chance to break Kenny's record, though she said she was not making any assumptions. "Road races are so unpredictable," Storey said. "So Thursday morning I'll come out and try to have some fun and see which way the cookie crumbles."

There was also joy for Cuba's "queen of speed" Omara Durand Elias, who took her sixth Paralympic gold in the 400m T12. The 29-year-old, who is visually impaired and runs with a guide, said there was no magic recipe to her track dominance. "My secret is sacrifice for training and good coaching. That is all," said the Cuban, who will compete in the 100m finals tomorrow and is also aiming to make Saturday's 200m final. - AFP