Be it in open competition or para archery, Zahra Nemati has cemented her status as Iran’s best recurve archer by collecting the nation a quota space for the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games at the continental qualifier in Bangkok.
Nemati already qualified an Rio 2016 Olympic space for Iran at the able-bodied Asian Championships, in the same venue, preceding the para event.
Sitting at 42nd in the able-bodied world rankings and 15th in the para world rankings, Nemati has her sights on representing Iran twice in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
“I will do my best to win honours in Olympic and Paralympic Games simultaneously and I dedicate a gold medal to my family,” she said, reported Inside the Games.
The last archer to compete in both Games in the same year was Italy’s Paola Fantato at Atlanta 1996. Paola won five Paralympic gold medals, three individually, over a para archery career that saw her attend each Para Games from 1988 to 2004.
Nemati’s teammates Majid Kakoosh won Iran the lone available W1 men’s quota place at the first of the Paralympic continental qualifiers.
China, Japan, Mongolia and Thailand also secured Paralympic invitations. Japan had not qualified any athletes at the summer’s World Archery Para Championships in Donaueschingen.
Asia Paralympic Qualifier Places
- China
– 2 (1 recurve woman open, 1 compound man open) - Iran
– 2 (1 recurve woman open, 1 W1 man) - Japan
– 1 (1 compound woman open) - Mongolia
– 1 (1 recurve man open) - Thailand
– 2 (1 recurve man open, compound man open)
London 2012 Paralympic Champion Nemati went on to win the recurve women’s open competition at the Asian Championships.
China had three gold medals at the event: recurve man Zhao Lixue, compound man Zhang Wenhui and woman Lin Yueshan. Korea’s Jang Dae Sung won the men’s and women’s combined W1 championships.
