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Iranian sitting volleyball player Mehrzad named IPC's Athlete of Month

Friday, 10 August 2018 8:04 AM [ Last Update: Friday, 10 August 2018 11:14 AM ]

Iranian male paralympic sitting volleyball player Morteza Mehrzad Selakjani (file photo)

Iranian male paralympic sitting volleyball player Morteza Mehrzad Selakjani has been named the Allianz Athlete of the Month for July 2018, thanks to his commendable display of talents and aptitude at the 2018 World ParaVolley Sitting Volleyball World Championships in the Netherlands.

The 30-year-old Iranian sportsman garnered 60 percent of the public votes. Brazilian thrower Elizabeth Gomes came in second place with 35 percent.

Swedish wheelchair tennis player Stefan Olsson, British wheelchair racer Kare Adenegan and Dutch wheelchair tennis player Diede de Groot claimed the third to fifth spots of the chart.

On July 22, the Iran men's national sitting volleyball team captured the crown at the 2018 World ParaVolley Sitting Volleyball World Championships in the Netherlands.

The physically-challenged Iranian sportsmen, who had earlier swept Ukraine 3-0 (25-13, 25-19 and 25-13) in the semifinals to progress to the title challenge of the tournament and earn the ticket to the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, thumped Bosnia and Herzegovina in straight sets (25-18, 25-13, 25-20) in the western Dutch port city of The Hague.

Ukraine took the bronze by beating Brazil 3-0 (28-26, 25-23 and 27-25) in an epic play-off for the third place.

The 2018 World ParaVolley Sitting Volleyball World Championships began on July 15, and finished on July 22, 2018.

Iran has won the World ParaVolley Sitting Volleyball World Championships for seven times, namely in 1984 Norway, 1986 Hungary, 1990 Netherlands, 1994 Germany, 1998 Iran, 2018 United States and 2018 Netherlands.

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