Hangzhou, China, September 22, 2023: Afghanistan’s rugby sevens team will face the might of host nation China in their opening Group D match on Sunday, September 24.
But, as far as the experienced player, coach and captain Omar Slaimankhel is concerned, it is still a win-win situation for Afghanistan.
When asked about his targets for the Asian Games, Omar replied: “To be honest we actually played in an Asian tournament last year, the Trophy, and we ended up just losing to Singapore in the final.
“So, we know the teams are a lot harder, especially playing China first off, and they do have a very strong UAE side in our pool. We just want to push them as far as we can.
“They have obviously had a lot more tournaments, a lot more training; they’ve got a lot of backing behind them.
“But for us it’s just, like I said to a couple of the guys, we’re just all heart. We are just going to try and push them right towards the end and, if we get a good result out of it, we will be cheering nonetheless.”
Although the majority of the players are from Kabul, Omar said a couple of the players grew up in New Zealand.
“We have a few players from all over the place so it’s a little bit hard to kind of get that training in,” he added.
“We did decide to come four or five days early to this tournament so we could chuck in a few training sessions together, but it’s been really tough.
“We have only really had maybe three or four tournaments in the last three or four years.
“It’s been tough for us in regards not being able to train together as much as we would like but, in saying that, we are playing amazing footy and will just try and back it up in this tournament.”