31 August 2012
Last updated at
12:23
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31 August 2012
Last updated at
12:23
In pictures: Wheelchair basketball in Afghanistan
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has played host to Afghanistan's first national wheelchair basketball tournament.
Many of the competitors had never played a formal game before. Jess Markt, a coach from Brooklyn, New York, explained the rules before the start of the competition.
He has been training players in Afghanistan since 2009 and plays for the New York Rollin' Nicks himself.
"The first time I took them to the court, there was sheer panic in their eyes. They were thinking, 'Two years ago I wasn't even leaving my house, but now I'm playing basketball in front of a crowd'," said Jess.
Eight teams took part in the event, four from Kabul, two from Mazar i Sharif, one from Herat and one from Maimana.
Each team had five players - three on court and two in reserve.
Passers-by and patients from the nearby a Red Cross orthopaedic centre watched from outside the court perimeter.
Bristol-based charity Motivation provided 120 sports wheelchairs, which made quick manoeuvres less cumbersome.
Maimana were the winning team. The players are now planning to form a national league, and have big aspirations for the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games.
All photos were taken by David Constantine, who broke his neck in a diving accident in Australia when he was 21. Today he is a quadriplegic wheelchair user. He uses a specially made attachment that fixes his camera to his wheelchair.
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