Iranian Para-archer Zahra Nemati secured the second best performance in archery at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.
Iranian Para-archer Zahra Nemati secured the second best performance in archery at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.
The Rio 2016 Paralympic Games were the most followed Paralympics in history. From stories of perseverance and sacrifice to true sporting emotion, the archery competition in the Sambodromo brought out the best of the Paralympic spirit.
After shooting in the Olympics in Rio, Nemati performed the extraordinary feat of defending a recurve title from London 2012 with a dramatic, 6-4, win over World Archery Para Champion Wu Chunyan in the Sambodromo.
“There was just a feeling that I had that I knew I was going to win today,” Nemati told Paralympic.org. “That’s why I was very calm and relaxed. I just knew I could do it.”
Nemati also took a silver in the recurve mixed team with Ebrahim Ranjbar Kivaj, bringing Iran’s total tally of archery medals to four.
Her seemingly endless popularity with the Rio crowd, who were chanting her name throughout, seemed to help.
“The energy from the people around me, the spectators, the people who wanted me to win – all this energy affected me and that was what helped me. I’m very happy, I’m so happy,” she said.
British women’s W1 team made the best performance, taking home three golds, two silvers and a bronze and moved to top of the Paralympic medal table.
Chinese Para-archer Zhou Jiamin finished in third place.