Pakistani athletes took part in a Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) competition in Afghanistan’s Khost province on Friday where they faced Afghan MMA fighters in the first such contest since the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) came into power in August last year.

Fourteen Pakistani MMA fighters took part in the contest.

Organizers of the contest meanwhile said the aim of the tournament was to show the world that conditions in the country are safe and that life carries on as normal.

“This competition is between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Fourteen of our fighters are from Pakistan and fourteen from Afghanistan. We have very strong players who have played well. We want to extend this series and make good neighborliness and show it to the world, that Afghanistan is safe so players from other countries will also come,” said Nimatullah Hemat, head of KFN (Khost Fight Night) organization in Khost.

Pakistani athletes were happy to compete in Afghanistan and said they will invite Afghan athletes to Pakistan for similar competitions.

“A very happy people gave me a lot of love. Very good games have been played. We want to invite Afghan players to Pakistan so that they can also compete freely there. Thank you for the love of the people here,” said Bismillah, a Pakistani fighter.

“Good games have been played here, we are happy to have come to Afghanistan. There are some very talented MMA athletes here who have competed very well with us and their talent should be taken into consideration and we want them to come to Pakistan and hold such tournaments there,” said Abdul Rahman, a Pakistani fighter.

Meanwhile, Afghan MMA athletes say the government and businessmen have not helped them, adding that there are talented athletes among them but they cannot go abroad to compete due to financial constraints.

“No attention has been paid to sports in the country, neither businesses nor government pays any attention. We have talented athletes who can play abroad, but they have financial problems and they cannot compete in foreign countries,” said Sher Shah, Afghan MMA fighter.

These martial arts athletes say that if the facilities are provided, they will not only achieve good results in the country, but they will also win awards in the international arena.