A country at war for almost half century has produced a generation looking for positive stories like the success of the Afghan Wheelchair Basketball Team
Afghanistan’s wheelchair hoop stars make world debut
28 year old Syed Mohammad Ashraf was paralysed from mid-way down his torso by shrapnel. He used to struggle with an old, cumbersome wheelchair that left him exhausted and depressed. Now, he’s wheeling across the basketball court with a huge smile on his face. This remarkable transformation is due to a new sporting passion – wheelchair basketball.
Our affordable sports wheelchairs make playing sport a reality for people like Syed, whose life has been revolutionised since starting to play sport just two and a half years ago. “Before, when I went from one side of the compound to another, I felt like I was fainting. Before, I had high blood pressure, back pain and headaches. Now they have gone…You feel like you are flying”. he explains.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) launched the wheelchair basketball programme using Motivation’s low cost sports wheelchairs in 2011. Thanks to our chairs, hundreds of men, and some women, now play wheelchair basketball in Afghanistan, and a network six regional teams has spread across the country and formed national league.
See more at: https://sports.motivation.org.uk/stories/afghanistan-basketball/#sthash.Oi67G1tt.dpuf
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