the Taliban government in the midst of ongoing war. In June 2003, the IOC lifted the suspension imposed on Afghanistan during the 115th IOC Session in Prague. Delegation The delegation of Afghanistan for the 14th edition of the Asian Games was composed of 12 officials (11 men and one woman) and 44 competitors (40 men and four women) participating in seven different sports—boxing (6), cycling (1), football (20), karate (1), shooting (1), taekwondo (7) and wrestling (8). Boxing Six Afghan pugilists went to the Games, competing in six out of the 12 boxing events. No Afghan competitor made it past the preliminary stages of competition. Three—Dawood Mahmoude (light flyweight), Rohullah Mustafa (flyweight) and Tamim Ahmed Akhtari (lightweight)—out of six boxers lost after RSCO (Referee Stopped Contest – Outclassed Opponent). Abdullah Shekib retired during his bout against Kazakhstani Gennady Golovkin. Sadeq Naqshbande lost to Sergey Rychko of Kazakhstan after referee stopped the contest (RSC). Sayed Haroon Sadat was the only Afghan boxer who completed his bout, losing to Kumar Adhikari of Nepal by a points difference of 11–13. Cycling Mohammad Bahrooz was the only cyclist in the delegation of Afghanistan. He represented his nation in the men's 169.4 km individual road race event held on October 3 at the Road Cycle Race Stadium. A total of 28 competitors participated in the event; Bahrooz was one of six who did not finish the race. The event was won by Sergey Krushevskiy of Uzbekistan with a time of 4:17:59. Football Afghanistan sent its men's national team to compete in the football event of the Games. The last international match played by Afghanistan against any nation was during the qualification stage for the AFC Asian Cup in 1984. For the 2002 Asian Games, the international governing body of football, FIFA, provided financial aid to the Afghanistan Football Federation to make their trip to Busan possible. The team did not advance beyond the preliminary round, losing all three of their matches. Team roster The first match of the Afghan team was scheduled with Iran on September 28 at the Busan Gudeok Stadium. The Iranian team dominated the match, winning by a score of 10 to 0. Alireza Vahedi Nikbakht scored five goals in the match. This was the largest margin of victory for Iran in the tournament. Iran would win the gold medal after defeating Japan in the final. Afghanistan and Qatar played on October