Biography
Mahdi Ahmadian is a table tennis player and IOC Refugee Athlete Scholarship-holder hoping to be selected for the IOC Refugee Olympic Team Paris 2024.
Born in Iran to a sport-loving family, Ahmadian grew up watching his father compete in Iran's national table tennis Super League, and took up the sport aged eight. By 16, he was training with Iran's national team.
But after some early success, the national team stopped selecting Mahdi as circumstances changed, and Ahmadian decided to leave Iran to continue his sporting career. He first crossed to Türkiye, then to Greece, before travelling on foot all the way to Austria, his current host country.
With the help of a local organisation supporting refugees, he was able to find a table tennis club and even achieved a diploma in table tennis coaching.
Mahdi now hopes to set a good example for his children by demonstrating the positive impact that sport has had on his life.
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