We Want to Continue Our Streak of Victories: Mehrzad


TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran’s men’s sitting volleyball player Morteza Mehrzad says that they want to continue their streak of victories in the Paralympics and world championships.

Iran clinched the title of the 2022 World Sitting Volleyball Championships by swiping past Bosnia and Herzegovina 3-0 (26-24, 32-30, 25-12) in the final match Friday night.

“It has been my second time in the World Championships and thank God we have won it again,” Mehrzad said in an interview with worldparavolley.org.

“Iranian men’s sitting volleyball has always been a powerful team. What we are looking for amongst all the achievements that we have is to sustain those achievements by winning more world titles and Paralympic medals. We want to continue our streak of victories.”

Being the second tallest man in the world, everyone’s attention pans to Mehrzad everywhere he goes, but the 35-year-old athlete remains shy and humble.

“I am not sure if my specific participation in the game could necessarily inspire other sitting volleyball athletes, but what I see is that this sport is dedicated to people with disabilities. And what it does is draw them out of isolation in society and prove that they could be active in sports,” Mehrzad said.

“I am not that significant of a person to send a message to anyone, but the only thing I could say is that we should all be heroes of our lives or world champions of our lives. And if we want change, we should start from within,” he concluded.