Two Afghan skiers have been selected for the 2018 Games marking the first time the war-torn country will raise its flag at a Winter olympics. Sayed Alishah Farhang and Sajjad Husaini, who are training at Swiss resort St Moritz, will compete in the giant slalom in Pyeongchang. Afghanistan Olympic Committee president Mohammad Zahir Aghbar entered the skiers on the sidelines of the Association of National Olympic Committees meeting in Prague. "At the meeting which we had with the head of Korea's Olympic Committee we registered two Afghan athletes for the Winter Olympics," Aghbar told Afghanistan's Tolo News in the Czech capital.
Afghanistan Ski Federation chief Mohammad Aslam Noori told AFP the pair's selection marked "the first time in history" that Afghanistan would take part in the Winter Olympics. The Games will be held from February 9 to 25. Farhang and Husaini, who learned to ski on the snow-blanketed slopes of Bamiyan in central Afghanistan, said competing for their country at the Winter Olympics had been their dream.