TEHRAN – Iran’s contingent departed Tehran on Saturday to compete at the 24th Summer Deaflympics in Caxias do Sul, Brazil.

In the Games scheduled from May 1 to May 15, the largest contingent ever from Iran in the Deaflympics will participate in athletics, beach volleyball, football , judo, karate, shooting, taekwondo and wrestling.

“Success in Silence” is Iran’s official motto in the Games.

Originally, the latest edition of the Summer Deaflympics were scheduled to take place from December 5 to 21 last year but it was postponed to May 2022 in January 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 24th edition of the competition, which claims to be the world's oldest multi-sport event after the Olympic Games having first been held in Paris in 1924, is anticipated to involved  6,500 people, including teams, technical commissions, and deaf athletes from over 90 countries.

The Deaflympics also known as Deaflympiad (previously called World Games for the Deaf, and International Games for the Deaf) are a periodic series of multi-sport events sanctioned by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at which Deaf athletes compete at an elite level.