PUNDIT'S PAIN
Heartbroken ITV World Cup pundit Nadia Nadim forced off air after hearing mother had been killed by digger
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HEARTBROKEN World Cup pundit Nadia Nadim was forced off air on ITV after hearing her mother had been killed by a digger.
The 34-year-old striker, who was born in Afghanistan but represents Denmark’s national team, is currently in Qatar working for the broadcaster.
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She was part of ITV's panel for the coverage of Denmark’s goalless draw with Tunisia on Tuesday.
But Nadia, who currently plays for the American club Racing Louisville, suddenly had to leave the studio during the game.
Tragically, the former Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain forward's mother Hamida was killed while she was on the air.
Nadia said her mother was killed while she was on her way home from the gym on Tuesday morning.
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The devastated pundit described her as "a warrior who had fought for every inch of her life".
“Words can not describe what I’m feeling," she said.
"I have lost the most important person in my life and it happened so sudden and unexpected. She was only 57.
"She was a warrior who had fought for every inch of her life.
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"She didn’t give me life once but twice, and everything I/ we are is because of her.
“I have lost my home and I know nothing's gonna ever feel the same. Life is unfair and I don’t understand why her and why this way.
"I love you and I will see you again.”
Nadia added: "Her funeral is gone be soon... please come and show her the love, respect and prayers she deserves."
Police in Denmark subsequently announced that Hamida was killed by a digger, not a truck, as previously announced.
Southeast Jutland Police said that the 57-year-old was hit by a so-called wheel-digger from behind near her home in the town of Uldum, around 120 miles west of the Danish capital Copenhagen.
The driver of the digger failed to see Hamida as she was walking alongside the road back home from the gym.
Police report that the driver swerved to avoid an oncoming lorry on the narrow country lane, and crashed into the mum-of-five.
"A driver had overlooked the woman, who was walking out on the side of the road," duty manager Torben Wind told Danish publication .
"An oncoming lorry came towards the driver, and it was a bit narrow, which is why the driver ended up driving into the woman."
Nadia was forced to flee Afghanistan in 2000 when the Taliban executed her Army general dad, Rabani.
Then aged 11, Nadia left the country with her mum and four sisters - selling all their belongings to fund the escape.
Speaking about her escape from the Taliban, Nadia previously said: "Before the war, I have very fond memories of the country, of our life, the safe environment.
"I had my mum and dad. And then I have the second part, which is the war, and after my dad was killed.
"Those memories are not nice memories, a lot of chaos, a lot of just horror.
"At the end, things were made very hard for us as a family to function and to see a future or feel safe."
She discovered her love of football at a refugee camp in Denmark and is now on the national team.
The forward made her international debut for the country in 2009 going on to score 38 goals in 99 games.
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Nadia also plays for US women’s side Racing Louisville - juggling her job as a striker with her medical studies.
The footballing heroine, who has also played for PSG and Man City, qualified as a doctor in January this year.
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