Afghan Olympic hopeful Ahdyar seeks asylum

London: The only female athlete on Afghanistan's team for the Beijing Olympics has gone missing from a training camp in Italy and apparently is seeking political asylum in Norway.

Mehboba Ahdyar, a 19-year-old runner who competes in the 800 metres and 1,500 metres, hasn't been heard from since leaving the training centre in Formia last week.

"The IOC accepts that athletes sometimes feel they have to make hard choices to improve their lives," International Olympic Committee spokeswoman Emmanuelle Moreau said on Thursday. "It would appear this is what has happened in this case."

Ahdyar, part of Afghanistan's four-member Olympic team, had been training for the August 8-24 games on an IOC scholarship program that assists athletes from less developed nations.

She began training in April at a high-performance centre in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and moved in early June to the pre-games facility in Formia, south of Rome, where she was supposed to stay until July 7.

"We don't have any official information. We only know that she might be seeking asylum in Norway," said Moreau.

Injury claim

"On July 4, she left with her bags and passports and we have not heard from her since," IAAF spokesman Nick Davies said.

In Kabul, the deputy chairman of the Afghan Olympic body, Sayed Mahmoud Zia Dashti, claimed that Ahdyar had a leg injury and was receiving treatment in Italy.

"I can confirm that she has injured her leg and that she has will not participate in the Beijing Olympics and that her family in Italy is taking care of her," he said.

There had been fears that Ahdyar's disappearance could be linked to death threats from Muslim extremists in Afghanistan opposed to women running in the Olympics.

Afghanistan was banned from the 2000 Sydney Olympics because the Taliban regime in power at the time barred women from taking part in the games.

The 2004 Athens Games marked the first time Afghan women competed in the Olympics, with Robina Muqimyar running 100m heats and Friba Razayee competing in judo.

Ahdyar's family of eight live in a mud brick house in a poor area of Kabul.

"We are scared, really scared about the security situation in our country and of the people who have negative views about my family," Ahdyar's mother, Moha Jan, told The Associated Press in March.