People & Places
19-year-old Iraqi athlete Najalh Imad after winning the gold medal at the 2024 Paralympics. Photo: International Table Tennis Federation/Facebook
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Najlah Imad, a 19-year-old Iraqi table tennis player, took home the gold at the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games on Saturday, etching her name in the history books as Iraq’s first-ever gold medalist in the sport.
Imad’s monumental achievement came after defeating Ukrainian Maryna Lytovchenko 3-1 in the final of the women’s class six event. Lytovchenko won the gold medal in the 2020 Tokyo games and is the world’s highest-ranked para table tennis player in the class.
Imad lost most of her right leg, her left leg at the knee, and her right forearm at just three years old when a sticky bomb ripped through her father’s car in Diyala, northeast Iraq in 2008.
She started playing table tennis at the age of 10 despite her family’s hesitance, and went on to represent Iraq in the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics when she was just 15 years old.
"Table tennis was a turning point. Since I started playing, my life has changed," Imad told AFP in May.
Imad’s victory marks Iraq’s first gold medal in the 2024 Paris Paralympics and the third overall in the country’s history.
A total of 20 athletes represented Iraq in 10 different sports at the 2024 games. In addition to Imad’s gold, Iraqi athletes brought home two bronze medals - one in athletics and another in powerlifting.
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