Iranians eyeing Paralympic kudos in Paris
Iranians will be looking to enjoy yet another glorious Paralympic campaign when the 17th edition of the Games get underway with the opening ceremony at the Place de la Concorde in Paris on August 28.
The Iranian delegation will be represented by 65 athletes in the 10 sporting events across the 11 days of action in the French capital, aiming to improve on the medal haul in Tokyo three years ago.
The country bagged 12 golds, 11 silvers, and one bronze to finish 13th in medal table – a second-best result after London 2012 since Iran first took part in the Paralympics in Seoul 1988.
Iran will again be the team to beat in the men’s sitting volleyball contests, having dominated the event with a remarkable seven golds and double silvers in nine Paralympic appearances – including back-to-back triumphs in Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.
The athletics, meanwhile, has been the most prolific event for Iran in the history of the Games – delivering 94 (36 golds) of the 160 medals.
Hashemiyeh Mottaqian (women’s javelin throw), Mahdi Olad (men’s shot put), Hamed Amiri, and Saeid Afrooz (men’s javelin throw) were among the Iranian gold medalists in Tokyo and will be chasing further glory at the Stade de France from Aug. 30.
Reigning Paralympic champion Rouhollah Rostami will be joined by Ahamd Aminzadeh, Amir Ja’fari, Mohsen Bakhtiar, Ali-Akbar Gharibshahi, and Hamed Solhipour in the men’s powerlifting contests, hoping to improve on the medal count in Tokyo, where Iran collected five.
in the shooting competitions, all eyes will be on Iranian sensation Sareh Javanmardi as the four-time Paralympic medalist will go after a third successive women’s 10m air pistol gold.
In taekwondo, Hamed Haqshenas, Saeid Sadeqianpour, Alireza Bakht, Maryam Abdollahpour, will be looking to build on their medal-winning performances in last year’s Hangzhou Asian Para Games when competing in their respective classes in Paris.
Three-time women’s recurve gold winner Zahra Ne’mati will be among the high-profile absentees at the Games but Iran will still hope Alireza Manshazadeh, Gholamreza Rahimi, and Mohammadreza Arab-Ameri – gold medalists in Hangzhou – could add to the overall eight archery medals for the country.
Other sporting events will see Shahin Izadyar and Sina Zieghaminejad, who have 11 Asian Para Games golds between them, take part in the swimming competitions, with Meysam Banitaba, and Mousa Gholam chasing a third men’s judo gold for Iran after the double in Tokyo.
Saeid Hosseinpour and Shahla Behrouzirad will be the two Iranians in paracanoe, while the men’s goalball team will take on the host, Brazil, and USA in the group stage of the eight-team tournament.