“Personally, my objective was to play good and be the best player on the court in every game, especially against European sides, who are dominating the competition. “I was thinking about being the top player on the court, but, most importantly, Iran winning as many matches as possible was the objective for myself and for the whole team here, in North Macedonia. Not only that she scored the largest amount of goals in the competition (28), she was also a provider, earning five assists throughout the first three games in the preliminary round. However, few would have expected that at the end of the preliminary round, the top scorer of the IHF Women’s Youth World Championship, a title secured in the past by players like Lois Abbingh, would be a player from Iran.Īt only 17 years old, due to celebrate her 18th birthday just at the end of the main round, back Fatemeh Merikhi has been one of the players to watch in the competition. Those wins were not a random feature or a glitch in the matrix, rather than the rewards of a good preparation, a clear handball philosophy, underlining the thought process behind the development of the sport in the country. The latter tournament was also the most successful for the Islamic Republic of Iran, as their youth women’s team took everyone by surprise to secure a place in the main round after starting the tournament with two wins in two matches, 47:31 against Uzbekistan and 39:29 against Senegal.įinishing in the top 16 teams in the world is no guarantee for success in the future, as there are plenty of examples where good results at this age category were not repeated at senior level, but for Iran, things are definitely looking better and better. Over the last nine months, the Asian side have made their debut at the IHF Women’s World Championship, the IHF Women’s Junior (U20) World Championship and now at the IHF Women’s Youth (U18) World Championship. The hard work put in day in and day out are reflected in the performance of the country’s teams on the highest of stages. Handball has been on the rise in the Islamic Republic of Iran, with several programmes already in place, which helped develop the sport over the last years.
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