Yabuli, China, February 7, 2025: He is truly a prodigal son. Afghanistan snowboarder Ahmad Mushtaba Habibzi will compete at the 9th Asian Winter Games with a great sense of national pride welling in his heart.
“I only got my Afghanistan passport yesterday (Thursday, February 6) and it will be quite an emotional moment when I compete under the Afghanistan flag and its three colours in Yabuli. It gives me enormous pride, after all these years, to take part as an Afghan,” says Ahmad Habibzi.
When he was just four-years-old, the Habibzi family fled Kabul for Toronto, Canada. That was in 1991, during the first Taliban war.
“We were refugees and we got asylum in Canada. My dad, Ghulam Ghaus Habibzi was the Director of Radio Television Afghanistan. My mum Fatima was a school teacher. I was only four when we left the country I was born in,” relates Ahmad.
Now 33, Ahmad is one of three snowboarders from Afghanistan – Nizaruddin Ali Zada and Ahmad Hayat are the other two – to compete in Harbin AWG.
Ahmad entered China with a Canadian passport. On Thursday, he obtained an Afghanistan passport, facilitated by the Afghanistan National Olympic Committee, and his eligibility to compete under the Afghanistan flag was approved by the Executive Board of the Olympic Council of Asia.
“I only applied two weeks ago for my Afghanistan passport. I’m very thankful to the Afghanistan National Olympic Committee as well as the Olympic Council of Asia for paving my way to compete in these Games,” Ahmad said.
His journey as a snowboarder began 10 years ago. He narrates: “In 2015, I was going through a low point in my life. All my Canadian friends used to go out clubbing and I didn’t join them as I don’t drink alcohol. I was lonely and miserable and it was then that I decided to take up snowboarding in my spare time.
“I live in Ontario, near the Blue Mountains, and I bought a season pass and used to go regularly. Today, after 10 years, I have competed and gained enough experience to be able to proudly represent Afghanistan.”
The black, red and green colours of the Afghanistan flag resonate deeply with Ahmad. “The black denotes all the dark times my land of birth has gone through, the red all the bloodshed spilled over decades, and the green is a symbol of peace, hopefully one day.
“I’m proud to be able to compete under these colours. Maybe, I’m not good enough to go for gold against the Chinese and the Japanese athletes, but who knows, my child could one day be able to achieve this goal. This is the start,” Ahmad says.
