Football bringing back joy to amputees

The East Asian qualification round for the Amputee Football World Cup 2022 in Turkey started in Bangladesh on Saturday, with four teams, Bangladesh, Japan, Malaysia, and Indonesia participating.

The matches are being played at the Shaheed Sipahi Mostofa Kamal Stadium in Kamalapur, Dhaka, and the top two teams after the six matches will qualify for the World Cup.

Amputee football, which has different rules than football, is giving life back to those who need it.

Mokbul, a member of the Bangladesh amputee football team, said that his life had lost its meaning after he lost his limbs.

“After I lost my limbs, I used to sit alone in my house. I was full of depression. A friend of mine introduced to me amputee football. I stood up again and started to look for the joy of life in football,” Mokbul said.

Mokbul also plays wheelchair basketball and badminton. He was the champion in badminton in the last national para-badminton tournament, but for Mokbul, football is the favourite.

“I find the double amount of joy playing football than playing any other sport,” he said.

His team though, failed to make a good start in the qualifiers as they were thrashed 8-0 in the opening game by Indonesia, and by the same margin by Japan on Sunday.

They will have another match against Malaysia to gain some points, but they have already found back joy, which might just be more important than the points.