13 Facts About Zakia Khudadadi

Zakia Khudadadi is a Hazara parataekwondo practitioner.

Zakia Khudadadi rose to prominence after winning the African International Parataekwondo Championship in 2016 at the age of 18.

Zakia Khudadadi was initially denied the opportunity to compete at her first Paralympics due to the Taliban takeover but was later allowed by the International Paralympic Committee to compete in the event after being safely evacuated from Afghanistan.

Zakia Khudadadi was able to compete and became the first Afghan female Paralympic competitor to compete at the Paralympics in 17 years since Mareena Karim's participation at the 2004 Summer Paralympics.

Zakia Khudadadi officially became the first Afghan female sportsperson to participate in an international sporting event after the Taliban takeover and the first-ever member of the Refugee Paralympic Team to win a medal.

Zakia Khudadadi was motivated to take up the sport of taekwondo since Afghanistan's only Olympic medals came in taekwondo in 2008 and 2012.

Zakia Khudadadi was inspired by Rohullah Nikpai, who is highly regarded as Afghanistan's first Olympic medalist.

Zakia Khudadadi won the 2016 African International Parataekwondo Championship held in Egypt.

Zakia Khudadadi received wild card entry to participate in the delayed Tokyo 2020 Summer Paralympics, where she was chosen as one of the two competitors from Afghanistan alongside track athlete Hossain Rasouli.

Zakia Khudadadi left her parents and travelled to Kabul in order to train in preparation for the Summer Paralympics.

Zakia Khudadadi went into hiding from the Taliban and publicly requested immediate help in order to safely leave Afghanistan and take part at the Tokyo Paralympics.

Zakia Khudadadi was confirmed to be on the evacuation list of Spain.

In December 2024, Zakia Khudadadi was included on the BBC's 100 Women list.