Legendary Nemati hails Rahimi for reclaiming recurve territory
Iranian para-archery head coach Zahra Nemati has praised Somayeh Rahimi for winning the women’s individual recurve gold medal at the 2026 World Archery Para Series event, reclaiming a title that had been dominated by the legendary coach for 16 years.
Rahimi secured a convincing 6-2 victory over her Chinese opponent in the final and also teamed up with Mohadeseh Babahabib to win a bronze medal in the women’s recurve team event last Wednesday. “Because of the wartime conditions in Iran over the past year, we missed the opportunity to participate in many tournaments, some of which served as qualifiers for the Asian Para Games,” Nemati told Mehr News Agency. “Therefore, the World Series event in India was a good opportunity for our athletes to test themselves in an official competition ahead of the upcoming showpiece in Nagoya.”
“Except for South Korea and Japan, almost all our Asian rivals were there. Our archers had a proper test ahead of the Asian Para Games and registered decent results,” she said.
“The individual recurve gold had been in my possession for 16 consecutive years. I won my last gold at the Hangzhou Asian Para Games. That was the last recurve gold for Iranian women, which is why I was thrilled to see Somayeh bring the title back home,” said the archery great, who won three Paralympic gold medals during her illustrious career.
Nemati, however, stopped short of making any medal guarantees for her five-member team at the Asian Para Games, which will kick off on Oct. 18, but vowed that her team would give its best
“I make no promise that we will definitely win medals in Aichi-Nagoya, but I promise that we will follow the same path and approach we have taken so far. We will give it our all against our rivals,” she said.