By Gary Anderson

February 6 - Mahmoud Khosravivafa has been re-elected as President of the Iranian National Paralympic Committee ©IPC/NPC IranMahmoud Khosravivafa has been elected unopposed for a fourth term as President of the Iran National Paralympic Committee (NPC) in elections held at the offices of the Iran Sports Federation for the Disabled in Tehran.

Khosravivafa won 47 of the 48 votes after Ghaffur Karegari withdrew his candidacy and will continue in his role as NPC President until 2018.

Amir Mandegarfard was elected secretary general, replacing Gholamresa Ebrahimi, while Fatemeh Rakhshani was re-elected as first vice-President and Hamidali Samimi replaces Karegari as second vice-President.

"I thank you for your trust and confidence from the bottom of my heart," said Khosravivafa, who was also re-elected for seventh consecutive term as President of the Iran Sports Federation for the Disabled.

"From now on, we will concentrate on giving a good performance at the 2014 Incheon Asian Para Games in South Korea."

Following the success of its first ever National Paralympic Week in December, the Iranian NPC announced last month that it will hold an annual National Paralympic Day on October 16 which aims to raise awareness and change perceptions of impairment.

Iran first competed at the Paralympic Games in 1988 at the Summer Games in Seoul and made their debut in the Winter Paralympics at the Nagano in 1998.

Iranian athletes have claimed a total of 113 Paralympic medals at Summer Games while Alpine skiing accounts for its four Winter Paralympic Games medals.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related Stories
July 2013: 
UN advisor Lemke visits Iranian Paralympic Committee
February 2010: 
Iran holds Paralympic elections