Afghan female cyclist wins silver at Asian Games after disguising herself as a man to train

In this image from a video, Afghanistan's Fariba Hashimi, who won the Silver Medal for Women's Road Race, speaks with the Associated Press in Shinshiro, Japan. (AP)

NAGOYA, Japan, Sept. 23 (AP): The easy part for Fariba Hashimi was winning a silver medal in the women's cycling road race at the Asian Games.

The nearly impossible part for the female cyclist from Afghanistan was trying to train in her country. To do that, she dressed as a man in a place where women have few rights.

"All the time when I was going to training,” she said, "I was dressing as a guy.”

She said she also hid her face when she could in order to not be recognized.

"Because sometimes when they recognized me, they were trying to throw ... stone(s) or hit me," she said.

Hashimi won silver Tuesday in a time of 2 hours, 50 minutes, 5 seconds, which marked another leg in a journey that began in 2021 when she left Afghanistan.

"In 2021, when the Taliban moved into my country, I escaped my country because I wanted to follow my dream,” she said. "I want to show the Afghan women in the world that ... we can have an opportunity.”

Hashimi talked about having many dreams for women in Afghanistan, dreams for herself, and dreams that may take time to be realized.

"I’m really, really happy, and I’m full of emotion. I don’t know how I can explain it to you,” she said.

"I hope one day I come back to my country and ride the streets of Kabul - and ride with the women side by side to share the same passion," she explained.

"And I hope in the future to change some things,” she added. "I think we are really tired of the situation in our country, and I hope the Taliban is watching.