KABUL, Sept 29: Afghan athletes returning to top international competition at the Asian Games starting in South Korea Sunday know their medal prospects are bleak after eight years in the sporting wilderness.

The 10-0 drubbing of the Afghan soccer team at the hands of defending Asian Games champions Iran Saturday was a timely reminder of the challenge the athletes face once the competition proper gets underway in Pusan, South Korea.

The last time Afghanistan was at an international sporting event was the 1994 Asian Games in Japan, and its return, however unsuccessful, marks an important step along the road to normality for a country ravaged by 23 years of occupation and civil war.

The Afghan soccer team has not been at the Asian Games since 1954 and its last official matches were in the qualifying competition for the 1984 Olympic Games.

Sayed Tahir, a young Afghan striker, has already been dubbed the nation’s answer to England captain and Manchester United superstar David Beckham, but sports officials, players and athletes were keeping level heads before they left for Pusan.

“Unfortunately we are facing Qatar, Lebanon and Iran (in our group) at the Asian Games, and we have little knowledge about how good they are and what system they will play,” said national soccer trainer Saeed Ali Hasghar Aqbar Zada in Kabul.—Reuters