- Saudi crown prince says no Israel ties without Palestinian state
- Canada to further cut international student, foreign worker permits
- YouTube launches new TV-focused tools for creators
- White Sox heading for worst season in MLB history
- China the top challenge in US history: senior diplomat
- Hong Kong democracy tycoon's son warns time running out
- New migraine drugs no better than cheap painkillers: big study
- Sean 'Diddy' Combs again denied bail in sex trafficking case
- Brewers clinch division title as MLB playoff race heats up
- Man City blunted by 'giant' Inter in Champions League stalemate
- US stocks dip despite larger Fed interest rate cut
- Man City held by Inter as PSG pinch win in Champions League
- All Blacks recall Beauden Barrett for Australia Test
- Fears of all-out war as new Lebanon device blasts kill 20, wound 450
- Spurs late show saves Postecoglou blushes at Coventry
- PSG snatch late goal to beat Champions League debutants Girona
- Gittens' late double gives Dortmund Champions League win at Brugge
- Man City blunted by Inter in Champions League stalemate
- Hidden talent: French Olympic star Marchand opts for disguise
- MrBeast named in California lawsuit over 'Beast Games' show
- Gauff splits with Gilbert as coach after 14-month run
- Hundreds of thousands at risk in Sudan's El-Fasher: UN
- Harvey Weinstein pleads not guilty to new sex crime charge
- Venezuelan opposition candidate says letter conceding election was coerced
- Ukraine official claims Russian advance in Kursk has been 'stopped'
- X update allows app to bypass Brazil ban: internet providers
- Fears of all-out war as new Lebanon device blasts kill 14, wound 450
- US Fed makes aggressive rate cut, weeks before election
- Arsenal's Odegaard faces lengthy injury absence
- India coal expansion risks massive methane growth: report
- China the top challenge in US history, top diplomat says
- US Fed makes larger half-point cut in first reduction since 2020
- Ronaldo's Al Nassr appoint former AC Milan boss Pioli
- Ainslie 'relieved' as British book place in Louis Vuitton Cup final
- Struggling Roma replace sacked icon De Rossi with Ivan Juric
- Women's NBA will add 15th team in Portland in 2026
- Brazil fires need harsher punishment: environmental police boss
- Boeing to start large temporary furloughs amid Seattle strike
- Fears of all-out war as new Lebanon device blasts kill nine, wound 300
- 'Emergency' declared over falling UK butterfly numbers
- McIlroy outlines threats to golf peace deal
- Stock markets, dollar slip before US rate decision
- Russian advance in Kursk 'stopped': Ukraine official to AFP
- UN members demand end to 'unlawful' Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories
- Snapchat pushes 'safer' platform image, but not everyone agrees
- Three dead, 100 wounded in new wave of Lebanon device explosions
- So where does the oceans' plastic waste come from?
- Allied war heroes buried in Netherlands... 80 years on
- Marsh coy over Australia's choice to open alongside Head
- New London sculpture pays tribute to trans community
JRI | 0.45% | 13.44 | $ | |
BCE | 3.09% | 35.61 | $ | |
BCC | 1.33% | 137.06 | $ | |
CMSD | -0.12% | 24.98 | $ | |
NGG | -0.46% | 70.05 | $ | |
SCS | 0.71% | 14.11 | $ | |
CMSC | 0.02% | 25.055 | $ | |
RBGPF | 5.79% | 60.5 | $ | |
GSK | -0.31% | 42.43 | $ | |
BTI | -0.34% | 37.88 | $ | |
RIO | -0.02% | 62.91 | $ | |
RYCEF | 1.37% | 6.55 | $ | |
AZN | 0.06% | 78.58 | $ | |
RELX | -0.82% | 47.37 | $ | |
BP | -0.37% | 32.43 | $ | |
VOD | 0.49% | 10.23 | $ |
Afghan fighters pull no punches after Taliban ban on professional MMA
Hissing like a quiver of angry cobras, a group of young Afghan mixed martial arts (MMA) athletes shadow box in a Kabul club despite the uncertain future of the sport after a Taliban government ban on professional competitions.
Late last month, the Taliban authorities banned the sport in professional competition calling it too "violent" and "problematic with respect to sharia", in the latest restriction based on their interpretation of Islamic law implemented since they swept to power in 2021.
"Initially, when a friend told me that MMA has been banned in Afghanistan, I didn't believe but when I reached the club, all my friends were gutted, and obviously I was too," 21-year-old Khalil Rahman told AFP.
Rahman had ambitions to "raise Afghanistan's flag high in the world", through international MMA competitions, but now that professional bouts have been cancelled, he and other trainees at the well-equipped private gym in eastern Kabul worry their days in the octagonal fighting cage are numbered.
For now, training and amateur competitions have continued with protective gear, leaving MMA enthusiasts in limbo, uncertain of the exact rules in the order from the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice.
The state sporting authority was not immediately available for comment, but a source from the organisation confirmed to AFP that the order text "was vague about what actually has been banned and the general directorate of sports and physical education has requested clarity".
- 'It made me sad' -
But Rahman is already thinking of trying to leave the country to follow his pro MMA dreams abroad.
His fellow trainee Mohammad Waseem Qayumi is holding out hope he can keep up with the sport at an amateur level.
"Initially, it made me sad when MMA was banned," he said, sweating after punching and kicking through the training session.
"Then I thought if free fighting (without safety gear) is banned, that's OK, I will put on headgear and other safety equipment and will continue to freestyle with my fighting."
Qayumi was inspired by the growth of the sport in the country in recent years, as he saw Afghan athletes taking part in international competitions on popular MMA platforms like the US Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).
A number of non-Afghan Muslim fighters have won world titles and enormous purses on the international stage, including Russians Khabib Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev.
"The people of Afghanistan are fighters, and this sport is also a fight, where you can kick and punch freely, that's why people like this sport," Qayumi said.
- Women banned from sport -
The Taliban government has not been recognised by any other state, complicating sports' teams participation in international arenas, but athletes from other countries have recently been welcomed to Afghanistan for competition.
The authorities have also effectively banned women from sports and male athletes have been ordered in a new morality law to cover their bodies from the navel to the knee.
Bilal Fazli, who trains in a club based in a dark basement in the southwest of the Afghan capital told AFP he was disappointed to see an immediate drop in the number of trainees coming to the club after the ban.
"All the boys were frightened... The government could have done a better job by working on other important things such as helping the poor than banning sport," the 21-year-old said before punching his trainer's gloves hard in frustration.
"I don't know what to do, we don't have jobs and if we can't even have the sports of our liking, maybe we will leave this country."
B.Shevchenko--BTB