In part two of our focus on sportswomen in the run-up to the Paris Olympics and Paralympics, we speak to women who have bucked the trend for female athletes in Uganda, Pakistan and Malawi

• In a class of their own: three Olympic sportswomen talk about overcoming war, hardship and the Taliban

Three years ago Husnah Kukundakwe became the youngest person to compete at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo. At 14, she was the only member of Uganda’s swimming team. She came sixth in the first heat of the 100m breaststroke.

In advance of the Paris Olympics and Paralympics, we speak to women who have faced conflict, discrimination and a lack of funding to stand as their countries’ only female qualifiers in their chosen fields

One of Alexandra Ndolo’s greatest career achievements so far is winning a silver medal for Germany at the world fencing championships in Cairo in 2022. But when the daughter of a Polish mother and Kenyan father looked up and saw the Kenyan flag hanging from the roof of the arena for the one athlete who hadn’t won anything, she had a moment of reckoning.