KABUL (PAN): The only Afghan girl taking part in the boxing event of this year’s Olympic Games in London on Saturday left for the UK to prepare for the completion, officials said.

Muhammad Arif Paiman, the Olympic committee spokesman, told Pajhwok Afgha News the teenager, Sadaf Rahimi, had been invited by the International Boxing Federation to London to train for several weeks ahead of the event.

During her 20 days trip to London, she would be trained by professional coaches, Payman said. The 17-year-old student has been playing boxing over the past five years.

Placed in the 54-kilogram weight category, she recently earned a gold medal in an international competition in Tajikistan. Rahimi is also a good taekwondo player.

Two male athletes, Roohullah Nikpa and Nisar Ahmad Bahawi, will represent Afghanistan in this year's games, scheduled for July.

Paiman said Afghan women’s participation in sports was increasing with time and currently the country had 3,000 female taekwondo, karate, boxing, basketball and volleyball athletes.

The International Olympic Committee suspended Afghanistan from the games after the Taliban banned women from participating in sports events. For the first time in its history, Afghan women took part in the 2004 Olympics in Athens.

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