Sima Limouchi wins the Para Sport Volunteer Award 2025
Limouchi has been a driving force behind the Paralympic Movement in Iran through her extensive volunteer work and leadership 05 Dec 2025
To coincide with International Volunteer Day (5 December) Sima Limouchi, a long-time volunteer and disability rights advocate from Iran, has been named the winner of the 2025 Para Sport Volunteer Award following a global public vote.
The Para Sport Awards celebrate individuals whose efforts have strengthened the impact of Para sports worldwide. Among categories for athletes, coaches, and IPC members, the Volunteer Award is the only one decided by public vote, with thousands of ballots cast globally over a two-week period.
Limouchi has been a driving force behind the Paralympic Movement in Iran through her extensive volunteer work and leadership. For her volunteering is more than an activity, it is a philosophy of life rooted in empathy, social responsibility, and personal values. Her commitment to the Movement deepened after the 2000 Sydney Paralympic Games, where conversations with volunteers from diverse backgrounds inspired her to promote volunteerism in Iran through education, cultural initiatives, and awareness about disability and the Paralympic movement.
Over the years, she has continued to strengthen the network of student volunteers, which now actively supports the Paralympic movement across Iranian social media. She has inspired university students to engage with Para sport, organised educational workshops, and served as a Technical Classifier in Para table tennis.
As Head of Volunteers for Iran’s National Paralympic Day, she enhanced public engagement through awareness seminars and inclusive activities. Her leadership also extends to commemorating the International Day of Persons with Disabilities in partnership with UNESCO and contributing to strategic planning through the NPC’s Development Committee and General Assembly.
Limouchi played a key role in advancing Para table tennis regionally, successfully advocating for its inclusion in the Asian Youth Para Games and developing inclusive sports programmes for children with disabilities.
Limouchi also served as member of the IPC Women in Sport Committee (2006 to 2010), and until 2023, volunteered with the Asian Paralympic Committee.
Reflecting on her journey, Limouchi said: “With every step we take alongside the Paralympic Movement, we help build a more hopeful, unified, and inclusive world. As volunteers, this responsibility drives us to champion the Movement's beauty, solidarity, and strength, guided by our insight and unwavering belief in its sustainable future.”
Limouchi is only the second Iranian to receive a Para Sport Award, following Elaheh Gholi Fallah, who won the 2019 Paralympic Sport Award for Courage after making history as the first Iranian woman to qualify for a Paralympic Winter Games.
Also shortlisted for the Volunteer Award were Betty Miangindula Mabenza from Democratic Republic Congo and Anvar Mursakulov from Uzbekistan. Voting took place from 30 October to 13 November 2025.
