KOZHIKODE: An Afghani pugilist studying in the city is getting applauds with medal winning performances in the inter-university tournaments.Twenty-two year old Ahmadpardes Amarkhil, a BA Economics student of the Malabar Christian College here, won the gold medal in State University Amateur Boxing Championships held recently in Thrissur.Boxing, he explains, was something he was fascinated with since he was a child. “I have always loved boxing from a very young age and started training in it quite early. Then one of my friends suggested kickboxing and I became involved heavily in it and made it as far as the Afghan National Kickboxing team. But unfortunately I broke my leg and soon the focus drifted back to boxing,” he said. Ahmadpardes finds the standard of boxing in Afghanistan to be of a much higher level. But this, he says, is not due to a dearth of talent. “People often find it hard to believe but we have much better facilities back home in Afghanistan. Here there are many talented boxers who are suffering because they do not have sufficient facilities to train under,” he says.He is also perturbed by the picture of Afghanistan that people here have in mind. “Due to images broadcast by certain sections of the media, the people think of Afghanistan as a war-torn country that is still stuck in the stone-age. But the reality is that places like Kabul have come a long way in the last ten years and is now a very advanced city. The facilities we have there are of a very high standard,” he says.He said the people of Kerala were amongst the friendliest in the country and that he preferred living here to other places in India. “I had a slight issue with the spiciness of the food here but I have come to love it. Rice with all the side dishes is now one of my favourite foods,” he adds.
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