PARIS (AP) — The Iranian men’s sitting volleyball team shrugged off its first hiccup of the Paris Paralympics to beat Egypt in four sets Thursday and advance to the gold medal match.
The seven-time Paralympic champions will go for their third straight gold in Friday’s final against Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Iran dropped the third set against Egypt but was back to its dominating self in the fourth, winning it 25-8 to clinch the semifinal victory.
With the tallest Paralympian on its roster, Iran has the height advantage on the court. Morteza Mehrzadselakjani is over 8-feet tall and towers over the net, slamming home shots that are hard to defend.
“If I’m, let’s say, the winner of this championship, bringing (him) can be considered one of the most important (things) that I have already done during my own life,” head coach Hadi Rezaeigarkani said after the match.
Paris marks Mehrzadselakjani’s third Paralympic Games — he already possesses two golds from Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo. At a young age he was diagnosed with acromegaly, a condition that causes excess growth. Mehrzadselakjani uses a wheelchair to get around since a bicycle accident injured his pelvis and stunted the growth of his right leg, which is six inches shorter than his left.
Masters wins gold again
American Oksana Masters did it again Thursday, claiming her ninth career Paralympic gold medal and 19th overall in the women’s H5 road race, a kneeling handcycling category.
The 35-year-old Masters kept pace with China’s Sun Bianbian, Italy’s Ana Maria Vitelaru and Germany’s Andrea Eskau over much of 56.8-kilometer (35-mile) race, taking the lead for good with 3 kilometers to go.
“I just went into survival mode,” Masters said. “I channeled and believed in what my team believed in me.”
Masters built up an 11-second lead on the final uphill section. She finished with a time of 1 hour, 52 minutes, 14 seconds. Sun took silver and Vitelaru placed in the bronze medal spot.
The H5 road race is the second gold in as many races for Masters in Paris. She will compete in her third and final race on Saturday in the mixed H1-5 team relay.
—-
Amanda Vogt is a student in the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism at Penn State.
—
