Asian Para Games: Iran name Sareh Javanmardi as flag-bearer

Shooting Para sport Paralympic and world champion Sareh Javanmardi has been named by Iran’s National Paralympic Committee (NPC Iran) as the country’s flag-bearer at the Jakarta 2018 Asian Para Games Opening Ceremony.

The NPC Iran announcement followed Javanmardi’s great performance at the 2018 World Shooting Para Sport Championships in Cheongju, South Korea, where she won four medals (three golds and one silver).

The 33-year-old from Shiraz was the first Iranian female gold medallist in the Paralympic Games. At the Rio 2016 Paralympics, she took gold in the P2 – women’s 10m air pistol SH1 and P4 - mixed 50m pistol SH1.

Another shooter, Samira Eram, will be Iran’s flag-bearer at the Asian Para Games Closing Ceremony. Eram won gold in Cheongju in the women’s P2 – 10m air pistol team event, alongside Javanmardi and Khadijeh Rostami.

It is the first time NPC Iran has chosen two female Para athletes as flag-bearers for the Asian Para Games.

The event takes place in Jakarta, Indonesia from 6-13 October 2018 and is the world’s second largest Para sport event after the Paralympic Games, with approximately 3,000 Para athletes from 43 countries expected to compete in 18 sports.

Iran finished fourth in the medals table at the last edition in Incheon, South Korea, in 2014 with 37 golds, 52 silvers and 31 bronze medals.