Another nine players from the Afghan national wheelchair basketball team have made it to Kabu airporthe where they expect to leave the country on a humanitarian flight from the Spanish government or from some other European Union country, has reported Bidaideak Bilbao BSR, current wheelchair basketball league champion.
The vice president of the club who offered to host the Afghan captain, Nilofar Bayat, in Bilbao since last Sunday, Emilio Pedrini, has indicated that once these athletes have arrived in Spain and “minimally rebuilt their lives”, They will offer them “a suitable framework” so that they can continue practicing their sport and has called on other clubs to also work in that line.
They will propose to the adapted sport federation, the FEEDF, to declare the league itself a host competition, in order to facilitate the participation of refugee athletes and avoid, as far as possible, bureaucratic obstacles in the processing of sports cards.
In a note, the Bidaideak reports that the nine Afghan basketball players have circumvented various Taliban army checkpoints to gain access to the interior of the airport and called for international “pressure” due to the risk of being forcibly removed from the international safe zone from the aerodrome.
The statement highlights that the Spanish Government is taking steps to take an interest in these women, but it is specified that the situation is “chaotic” and there are “great operational difficulties for the rescue.”
