Iran trailblazer dreams of table tennis medal

Farhad Pouladi

Iran's first woman to compete in table tennis at the Olympics, Neda Shahsavari, says she is “thrilled” to be going to the London Games, and dreams of winning a medal for the Islamic republic.

Petite and agile, the 25-year-old physical education student from the western city of Kermanshah made history for Iran when she beat Kazakhstan's Yelena Shagarova at the Middle Asia Olympic qualifying tourna

ment in Tehran in January.

“I was thrilled when I made it, beating Shagarova, since she had beat me two months before. It was an indescribable feeling,” she told AFP after a training session for the London Games, which begin on July 27.

“I have made it but I hope I won't be the last Iranian woman making it to the Olympics in table tennis,” said Shahsavari, who joins seven other women representing the Islamic republic at the Olympics.

In order to get as far as possible in the tournament, she hopes not to meet one of the sport's strongest competitors from East Asia in the heats.

“Expectations are high. It is very difficult, but I will do my best,” said Shahsavari, who is ranked 490 in the International Table Tennis Federation rankings. Table tennis is popular in Iran, and ping pong tables are widespread in the country's public parks. Shahsavari said she was drawn to the sport by hearing the whack of the ball as a child.

“I was drawn to ping pong when I was 11. I loved the sound the ball made hitting the table and the racket. I started hitting the ball onto the wall and ground and then eventually my parents got me a ping pong table,” she said.

AFP