"We are amazed by her spirit," said the founder of Chou Ta-Kuan Foundation, Chin-hua Chou, at a press conference here on Tuesday.
Asadi was selected for the award because of her spirit to lead a better life amid a challenging situation, she added.
"As a karate fighter, living in a very challenging situation, she still doesn't give up," said Chou.
Meanwhile, the head of TETO, John Chen, also lauded Asadi for her enthusiasm and achievements.
"Asadi sets a good example of ‘live your best life’,” he said.
Asadi was given the award because of her achievements as a karate fighter, representing Afghanistan, Indonesia, and Pakistan at various international competitions, he informed.
"In order to break the gender barrier, Asadi disregarded the intimidation and threats by Afghanistan extremists and represented Afghanistan in the South Asian Karate Championship held in India in 2012," he said.
She won two silver medals in the championship. This also inspired girls all over Afghanistan to learn karate.
In addition, Asadi called upon refugees from various countries stranded in Indonesia to cast away the shadow of negative experiences and light up their lives through exercise and fitness, Chen said.
Therefore, along with 21 other awardees, Asadi was given the "Love of Life Medal" by the foundation this year, beating 3,124 other candidates from around the world.
Meanwhile, Asadi warmly welcomed the award and expressed her gratitude to the Chou Ta-Kuan Foundation and TETO.
"I would like to honor the memory of Chou Ta-Kuan," she said, referring to the young Taiwanese poet who had great enthusiasm for life and inspired the establishment of the foundation.
"He had a clear message for us that we should never give up and we must not lose our hope," she added.
Asadi has founded the Cisarua Refugee Shotokan Karate Club in Cisarua, Bogor district, West Java, where she provides free training to refugees from several countries stranded in Indonesia.
The karate club not only provides refugees an opportunity to keep fit and acquire self-defense skills, but also enables them to gain hope and value and live their best life.
The Chou Ta-Kuan Foundation is a Taiwan-based foundation that promotes life values throughout the world.
So far, 416 fearless fighters have been awarded medals by the foundation and 310 thousand vulnerable child patients with cancer have received its attentive care.
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Reporter: Katriana
Editor: Anton Santoso
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