Tehran, IRNA – Iranian para-athletes celebrate National Paralympics Day on October 16 after Iran's Paralympian convoy to Tokyo made history last month.

Iran has so far participated in 9 editions of Paralympic games from 1988 until 2020 Tokyo Paralympics and has bagged an accumulative 69 gold, 46 silver and 45 bronze medals.

Iran's best performance is related to London 2012 Paralympic Summer Games, winning the 11th place in the ranking.

In Tokyo edition, Iran's paralympians won 12 gold, 11 sliver, and 1 bronze medals, gaining 13th place in global ranking.

For Iran, Tokyo Paralympics was specifically marked with Zahra Nemati's hat trick, winning her third consecutive gold medal in Paralympics in archery. She had won the gold medal in previous editions in 2016 and 2012, too.

President of Asian Paralympic Committee (APC) Majid Rashed hailed shining of Iranian athletes in 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, saying that it was admirable that the Iranian squad received even more gold medals than the previous edition of the competitions in Rio.

This was indicative of the presence of a strong system in the Iranian National Paralympic Committee, Rashed said.

He also praised the performance of Iranian women athletes, like Zahra Nemati and Sare Javanmardi, noting that they could set a role model for young female athletes anywhere in the world.

Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei had a meeting with Olympic and Paralympic athletes who made great achievements in Tokyo, praising their efforts to elevate Iran's fame and promote its culture.

The Supreme Leader called on Iranian sports officials to make equal opportunities for para-athletes and provide them with equal equipment as other athletes.

Iran's para-athletes have been highly decorated in world competitions, including in Paralympics. Siamand Rahman, a record keeper super-heavyweight genius, who died of a heart strike in March 2020, was one of Iranian para-athletes who brought great popularity to para-sports in Iran with his heroic performance and character.

Siamand’s credit was big enough in 2016 in Brazil to attract thousands of people to watch Paralympic super-heavyweight competitions which could hardly ever fascinate such a crowd.

Hours before weightlifting competitions in the super-heavyweight category in Tokyo Paralympic 2020 began, the organizers displayed pictures and video clips of Siamand remembering his contribution to the field and para-sports.

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