Determined South Asia's Women Footballers Head to Bangladesh

Beyond the Veil| Despite dangers and threats, the Afghan national women’s soccer team plays on, dashing onto and off their practice field field, which is also NATO’s landing helipad.

“This is how I fight,” says Khalida Popal, one of the team’s longest-serving member. “We want to send a message over the world to show that women can play football, and study, and work.” Read on at NYTimes

The Afghan women will appear in the eight-nation SAFF women’s football championship that will begin December 12 in the tourist resort of Cox’s Bazaar, Bangladesh.

The hosts are placed in Group A along with South Asian Games champions India, Sri Lanka and Bhutan while Pakistan is bracketed in Group B with Nepal, Afghanistan and Maldives. Two top teams from each of the two groups will play in the semifinal.

Below is a photo and story about Pakistan’s women’s team, via Dawn.com

LAHORE: Pakistan Football Federation (PFF)’s President Makhdoom Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat has approved National Champion Young Rising Star’s captain and central defender Sana Mehmood as the new captain of Pakistan’s national women’s team.

Update on Thu, December 9, 2010 by Anne

Also out today, a UN report that states millions of Afghan women and girls suffer from traditional pratices such as child marriage and ‘honor’ killings, and authorities do not enforce laws created to protect them. via Reuters