Tashkent, Uzbekistan, August 6, 2023: Afghanistan’s student athlete Alyas Mayar has been an interested onlooker at the OCA/IIHF U16 Asian Ice Hockey Youth Camp in Tashkent these past few days.
While the rest of the boys and girls from the other 26 Asian National Olympic Committees – plus Australia and New Zealand – go through their drills on the ice, Alyas sits out of bounds and watches all the moves carefully.
“I don’t have any equipment with me. I don’t even have a pair of skates, and even though we tried to get an old pair here, we failed. So my job is to observe. I only take part in the physical training activity,” said the Kabul-based Alyas, speaking in Urdu which is translated by an app on his smart phone.
In a bid to promote the game among the various countries in Asia, the Olympic Council of Asia and the International Ice Hockey Federation carefully vetted the invitee list. Afghanistan, despite lacking any indoor ice rink, was pencilled in, resulting in Alyas and coach Khalid Zazai arriving in Tashkent with a sense of awe in their baggage.
“We don’t play ice hockey back home. We are both field hockey players but we want to learn this new sport. It is fast and exciting and I hope, with the help of the OCA and the IIHF, ice hockey can take off in Afghanistan,” noted coach Khalid.
The IIHF’s team leadership mentor, Puputti Tulla from Finland, said all efforts had been made to get Alyas equipment so that he could join the rest of the student athletes in practice. “Unfortunately, we couldn’t even get a second-hand set. Yet, it is good that we have representatives from Afghanistan with us.”
Sport is a much-needed breather from the daily rigours of life back in Kabul, says Alyas. “Our country has gone through and is going through so much turmoil. We have had many wars over the past few decades. In this context, sport gives people a chance to escape from the daily tensions, and I hope I can help in a small way by bringing this new sport to Afghanistan.”
Apart from his dreams of becoming an ice hockey player and propagating the sport in his country, Alyas, 16, also has ambitions of becoming a doctor. “I want to do something that will benefit my country.”