Afghan Olympic hero will be star attraction at SAG taekwondo

Two-time Olympic bronze medallist from Afghanistan Rohullah Nikpai will be the star attraction when three-day taekwondo event gets underway at the 12th South Asian Games here from tomorrow.
Nikpai became a national hero after winning Afghanistan's first ever Olympic medal in Beijing 2008, a feat which he repeated in London four years later in 2012.
With an aim of winning a hat-trick of Olympic medals at Rio this year, the 28-year-old is set to show his skills at the regional mega event for the first time since participating in the 10th edition of the meet in Colombo in 2006.
"As all top athletes my aim is to win another medal in Olympics. I will try to win a gold medal this time," Nikpai told PTI on the sidelines of their practice at the North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences on the outskirts of the city here.

"I've come here just for my team and my country. We have a strong team in taekwondo and we hope to put our country on top here. Our achievement in sport is a big ray of hope for the people back home," he said.
Nikpai was greeted by thousands at Kabul's Ghazi stadium when he returned from Beijing in 2008.

"My achievement in Olympics has put the country in the sporting map. They know it for sport, not for war," he said.
Nikpai started his training at his home town Kabul at the age of 10 before he fled to Tehran during the civil war. He settled there in one of Iran's many Afghan refugee camps.

He soon became a member of the Afghan refugee taekwondo team after watching martial arts movies. Nikpai returned to Kabul in 2004 and continued his training at the government provided Olympic training facility.
A total of 13 gold medals will be decided in taekwondo, of which five will be in women's section.