TEHRAN – Sadegh Kalhor is poised to book a place at the 2022 Winter Paralympic Games in Beijing, China. The 42-year-old Para skier has already participated in the Games five times.

He began skiing at age three. At age 18, he lost his leg after colliding with a cable in a ski slope. 

After his accident he wanted to remain active, so he began Para skiing as he already loved the sport.

Kalhor debuted for Iran at the 1998 Paralympic Winter Games in Nagano, Japan, where he didn’t finish in the Slaloms events but finished in 20th place in Super-G LW2. He has also partaken in 2002 (Salt Lake City, the U.S.), 2006 (Turin, Italy), 2010 (Vancouver, Canada), and 2014 (Sochi, Russia) so far.

Kalhor was part of the skiers who competed at the Dizin International Para Alpine Skiing on Jan. 27 and 28 at the Dizin International Sports Complex and came first in three events.

“I want to win a berth in the Games for the sixth time,” Kalhor told Tehran Times. “I’m satisfied with my performance in the competition but I know that the athletes have difficult task in the Winter Games since the competition will bring the best world’s Para skiers together in Beijing.”

Kalhor was Iran’s only Para skier in the four Paralympic Winter Games but five skiers took part at the 2018 Winter Paralympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Issa Saveh Shemshaki, head of Iran’s Para Skiing Association, says that more athletes have started Para skiing in the recent years and it shows that there is a bright future ahead of the sport in the country.

“We are happy to say that the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has trusted us and Iran was chosen to host nine international events in the current year. We have hosted four tournaments so far. The representative of the World Ski Federation attended the Dizin event and closely monitored the quality of the competition,” Saveh Shemshaki said in an interview with Tehran Times.

“Our Para skiers have high chance of winning quota places at the 2022 Winter Paralympic Games in Beijing, China,” he added.