Iranian Women excel at Youth Olympic Games
The inaugural Youth Olympic Games continue to enthrall audiences and fans in Singapore as enthusiastic young athletes from all across the world display their talent.
Youngsters are giving it their best shot in an attempt to see if they are capable of outsmarting each other in the first ever Youth Olympic Games that have been sanctioned by the International Olympic Committee.
The Games have provided a rare opportunity for Iran's young women soccer team to showcase their talent to the world and give people in Singapore an insight into their dreams and ambitions.
The Arabic nation secured their first victory at the Youth Olympics after working through months of uncertainty and speculations whether they will be allowed to compete with their traditional Islamic headgear.
The girls were finally given the go ahead. Iran started off on a poor note when they lost their opening Group A match to fellow Islamic nation Turkey 4-2.
The Iranian camp was happy with its performances and aimed for success in the remaining part of the competition. They hoped to build onto their brave performance in the opening match.
Iran capitalized on their last chance of success in the tournament and a distinct possibility of winning a medal by edging out Papua New Guinea in a crucial encounter.
The Iranian team was kept in the match early by an inspired performance by their captain and goalkeeper Mahdeyeh Amighi. She staved off the challenge from their opponents by saving other goal scoring opportunities as well.
On the other hand, their forwards kept making inroads in pursuit of a goal and their efforts were eventually paid off when their dashing striker Fatemah Ardestani found the net with a well placed opportunity from close range.
The win gives an outstanding chance to the Iranians to move forward in the Games.
The Asians can qualify for the knock out stage of the event if the team they lost to in their opening match Turkey holds off Papua New Guinea to a draw or beats them when the teams square-up on Wednesday.
Many experts and critics believe that their sheer participation in the event is a boost to sports in the country especially amongst the women who are restricted by a conservative environment.
The women in the country are forced to wear strict Islamic dress at all times in public. This is the reason why their women are not allowed to take part in sporting activities in the public.
The side only appeared at the event in Singapore after the world soccer governing body FIFA eased their tough stance on the dress code and allowed them to take part in the competition wearing their traditional Islamic gear.
Meanwhile, other Iranian athletes were successful as well. Taekwondo player Mohammad Soleimani cruised past American Gregory English in the pre-finals of the 48kg division category.
However, the unfortunate Soleimani had to withdraw from his title deciding bout against Israel's Gili Haimovitz citing injury problems.
Yet it is believed that the withdrawal was due to his bout with an Israeli opponent. Many Muslim countries around the world especially in the Middle East refused to play against Israelis in sporting events due to their political differences with the country that is blamed to have illegally occupied Palestine.
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