Pakistan-Afghanistan Bilateral Sports: Need Of The Hour

Promoting bilateral sports between Pakistan and Afghanistan can foster mutual respect, strengthen people-to-people ties, and contribute to lasting regional peace and cooperation.

Sports often provides a vital source of entertainment, socialization and normalization in societies adversely affected by prolonged conflict and instability. The same is true for Pakistan and Afghanistan, two countries suffering from decades of violence and terrorism. Nevertheless, the long periods of volatile security environment have failed to dampen the resilient spirits of the sportsmen and common people of both countries as they continue to enthusiastically participate and excel in different sports.

Cricket has been the dominant sport in Pakistan and Afghanistan in terms of popularity, infrastructure, sponsors and media coverage. The recent advent of Pakistan Super League and Afghanistan Premier league has further boosted the mass appeal and glamour of cricket in these countries. In addition to cricket, there have been other sportsmen and athletes from Pakistan and Afghanistan bringing laurels for their countries. However, their achievements are often overshadowed by the glitz and glamour of cricket on the mainstream media.

In this regard, volleyball, football and martial arts make for an interesting case study for multiple reasons. Firstly, these sports have deep roots in the rural and urban lower-middle classes of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Years of neglect by governments and sporting federations have failed to dampen the enthusiasm of sportsmen and masses for these sports. Secondly, in recent times, Afghanistan and Pakistan have been taking significant strides in volleyball, football and martial arts indicating a possibility of mutual learning, collaboration and development in these sports between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

An Overview of the Potential of Volleyball, Football, and Martial Arts

Volleyball along with football is considered to be the poor man's sports in this region. Volleyball is a sport which is truly loved in the rural landscape of Pakistan-Afghanistan region. The game requires very meagre resources such as a ball, a net and a plain playing surface of 1743 square feet. Volleyball requires a higher degree of physical strength, stamina, endurance and athleticism – abilities which are highly valued and appreciated in the rural socioeconomic setting. The small playing area allows spectators to easily gather around the volleyball court to appreciate the skill and athleticism of the players as an evening pastime. Given this background, it is no surprise that Pakistan has been producing a lot of talented volleyball players and the national volleyball team's performance has been gradually improving on the international stage.

Pakistan recently won the Central Asian Volleyball tournament organized in Islamabad by remaining unbeaten and defeating World 15^th ranked Iran among other teams on its way to the title. It was very encouraging to see the Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif himself congratulating the national team social media. Afghanistan also participated in the tournament and showed good fighting spirit in all of its matches despite being relatively inexperienced at the world stage. Pakistan also qualified for the final of prestigious AVC Volleyball tournament in Bahrain by defeating higher ranked teams such as 27^th ranked South Korea only to be defeated by World 21^st ranked team Qatar. Similarly in a recent bilateral series Pakistan defeated World 35^th ranked Australia. As a result of these encouraging results, Pakistan's world ranking has improved to 49. Pakistan has also won the recently concluded under 18 Central Asian Volleyball tournament in Tashkent.

Football is another sport hugely popular in Afghanistan and Pakistan despite the fact that national teams of both countries are not renowned at the world stage. As with volleyball, the popularity of football in the region's rural and peri urban areas can be attributed to the fact that it is a poor man's game basically requiring only one ball and some playing area. The proliferation of cable TV and internet has enabled the region's youth to follow and be inspired by the modern greats of the game such as Ronaldo and Messi. The national football teams of Afghanistan and Pakistan have been making steady progress at the international stage without any significant government patronage. Afghanistan has consistently performed at the international stage during the last decade beating teams like Pakistan, India, Palestine, Singapore. In 2023, Afghanistan defeated Mongolia twice in world cup qualifiers and in 2024, Afghanistan drew the first game with vastly experienced team of India and then defeated them in the home game played in India. Even more remarkable achievement was Afghanistan's drawn game with Qatar in June 2024, one of the best football sides of Asia which had earlier defeated Afghanistan 8-1 in 2023.

Another landmark achievement of Afghanistan has been its recent qualification of for the futsal World Cup is a landmark achievement. Futsal is the variant of football played on a hardcourt like a basketball court, smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football and indoor football. The game has become immensely popular in the past two decades due to its fast pace, easy setup, enhanced accessibility, and lower physical requirements. Futsal is played between two teams of five players each, one of whom is the goalkeeper. The playing surface is smaller than the regular football field and hence the game can be easily played indoors in a multipurpose sports arena. Afghanistan qualified for the futsal world cup after a successful AFC Futsal Asian Cup campaign climbing from 49th globally and 12th in Asia to 45th worldwide and 8th in the continent.

Martial Arts is another domain of sports where Pakistani and Afghan athletes have been winning laurels for their countries. Irfan Mehsood a native of South Waziristan has 70 Martial Arts Guinness World Records under his belt. Muhammad Rashid Naseem from Karachi is a distinguished Pakistani martial artist, setting an astounding 94 Guinness World Records. Pakistan secured one gold and two bronze medals at the Asian Jiu-Jitsu Championship 2024 held in Abu Dhabi in May. Pakistan's Shahzaib Khan made history by becoming the first taekwondo athlete to win a silver medal in the final of 54 kg category of the at Asian Taekwondo Championship 2024 in Vietnam. Pakistani Ju-jitsu National athlete Dilawar Khan Sanan bagged a gold medal in the World Martial Arts Games 2023 held in Florida, USA. In the field of Mixed Martial Arts, Pakistan's Shahzaib Rind has won global acclaim after his recent victory over India's Rana Singh in Karate Combat in Dubai.

Similarly, Afghan martial arts athletes have also been performing admirably in international competitions. Ali Rahimi and Hussain Baksh Safari are two veteran Afghan martial artists with global recognition. Bagging one silver and two bronze medals, Afghanistan finished runners-up in the World Taekwondo Festival in South Korea in August, 2023. Mohsen Rezaee, an Afghan Taekwondo athlete, defeated his Japanese opponent in the qualification rounds at the 2024 Paris Olympics held in March in China. Nasrat Haqparast, an Afghan martial artist, secured victory against his American opponent in a UFC fight in Sydney, Australia in September, 2023. Ali Akbar Amiri led Afghanistan to the first medal in its history in the international Taekwondo competitions of Korea in August, 2023.

These achievements of Pakistani and Afghan sportsmen in volleyball, football and martial arts can be the basis of mutually beneficial collaboration between sportsmen and sports federations of the two neighbouring countries. Competitions and training camps held on reciprocal basis can help in creating public and commercial interests in the bilateral sporting relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan. This can eventually lead to improvement in the sporting facilities, infrastructure and international performances of the respective sportsmen. Going by the example of cricket, it is obvious that people of Afghanistan and Pakistan enjoy this sporting rivalry and want more and frequent sporting relations. It is also critically important for both countries to divert the attention of their youngsters towards positive and healthy activities to ensure a prosperous and bright future for themselves. Strengthening of bilateral sporting relations in the fields of volleyball, football and martial arts will have a direct positive impact on the millions of masses from middle and lower classes who want the recognition of their sports rather than round the clock preoccupation with cricket.

DISCLAIMER – The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of The Khaama Press News Agency . We welcome opinions and submissions to Khaama Press Opinions/Exclusives – Please email them to ... .

Riffatullah Orakzai ( Multimedia freelance journalist worked with BBC for 13-year, fellow @UniofOxford , Area: Taliban, Afghanistan, ex-FATA, militancy, Terrorism & Khyber Pakhtunkhwa)

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