Reuters
Afghan basketball star makes debut in Spain after leaving Kabul
The captain of the Afghan women’s wheelchair basketball team made her debut for her new Spanish side on Saturday to cheers and applause just over a month after fleeing Kabul when the Taliban came to power. Nilofar Bayat, 28, and her husband Ramesh Naik Zai, 27, were offered the chance to play for Bidaideak Bilbao BSR, a wheelchair basketball team in the northern city of Bilbao. They arrived in Madrid from Kabul on Aug. 20 on a flight with 100 other refugees thanks to efforts by the Spanish government and the Spanish Basketball Federation.