By Mirza Ahmed Ali

As Hussain lifted his gold medal to the screens, hundreds of villagers in his native village celebrated for the first time in months. “This is no ordinary festival, we have been waiting for a scrap of good news for months and this is one of our own children doing us proud,” said 76-year-old shopkeeper Chaudhery Ahmed Doda.

“It is amazing to see a local wrestler become a world champion. You should have seen his family celebrate, they spent months standing in lines for Watan Cards to rebuild their homes and now they are over the moon,” said neighbour Altaf.

Abdul Qadir, Azhar Hussain’s father said “He won for us and for his country. I am so proud of the fact that my son has given us all hope when we so desperately need it.”

Qadir and his family lost their home and a large portion of their land in the floods and are now working to rebuild. He said that after Hussain’s victory in India scores of relatives and friends had been visiting him from remote villages in the province. “Stranger’s are bringing us mithai and greeting us on the street, it is wonderful,” he said. (more…)