KABUL, Afghanistan Noor Ahmad Gayezabi said a silent prayer while watching the small family TV with his 13-year-old son. “Help Nikpai. Help Nikpai. Help Afghanistan.”

Then he watched his country win its first-ever Olympic medal.

Rohullah Nikpai defeated world champion Juan Antonio Ramos of Spain on Wednesday to earn the bronze medal in the men's under-58-kilogram tae kwon do competition, sparking applause, wide smiles and laughter around the country.

“When I saw that he won, I jumped up and hugged and kissed my son,” Gayezabi said. “I was crying.”

Afghan President Hamid Karzai immediately called to congratulate Nikpai. He also awarded him a house at the government's expense, said Humayun Hamidzada, the president's spokesman.

“I hope this will send a message of peace to my country after 30 years of war,” Nikpai said.

The victory led all of Afghanistan's evening newscasts.

“I am so happy. I cannot express my feelings in words,” said Mohammad Akbar, 33, who watched on a TV at his Kabul pharmacy. “While I was watching the match I was clapping I was so happy.”

Nikpai, 21, started learning the Korean martial art at age 10 because his brother had found a club in Kabul. It became an escape from the daily rigors of life in a country that not been at peace since the 1970s, and he was good at it.

Exceptionally good.

When Gayezabi met Nikpai, they were both living at a refugee camp in Iran during the years of war that embroiled Afghanistan in the 1980s and 1990s. The two competed together on a refugee tae kwon do team.

Nikpai came to Kabul four years ago, Gayezabi said. In the mornings he lifted weights and in the evenings he practiced martial arts. In between he earned money as a barber.

With success came better training conditions. After being selected for the national team six months ago, he was able to use a special gymnasium.

But in a country where sports take a distant place behind the realities of war, few resources are dedicated to training athletes.

“My training situation is a lot like the situation in my country,” Nikpai said. “It's not good.”

Gayezabi had a lucky few hours of electricity that allowed him to watch his former teammate's victory. He feared he would only be able to listen on the radio since Kabul averages about four hours of municipal electricity a day.

“I was crying because I was remembering back when we were both on the Afghan refugee tae kwon do team in Iran,” Gayezabi said.

Only four Afghan athletes came to Beijing, representing a country that had never won an Olympic medal and is sinking ever deeper into war as the Taliban insurgency escalates.

Sprinter Robina Muqimyar – who in 2004 broke the gender barrier on the Afghan Olympic team – was last in a field of 85 women in the 100 meters, with a time of 14.80. She ran with a scarf covering her head.

Teammate Massoud Azizi finished 76th in the men's 100. He trains in Kabul's National Stadium, where the Taliban once staged regular public executions, wearing jogging shoes because his spikes won't dig into the track's cracked, concrete surface.

But Nikpai has a spot among his sport's elite.

Afghanistan will get another chance at a medal in tae kwon do. Nesar Ahmad Bahave is competing in a heavier weight class.

Hussein Rachmati, a tae kwon do teacher in the gym where Nikpai trains, said he prepared with a Korean teacher. He placed second in the World Taekwondo Federation's qualifying event in Vietnam last year.