Elaheh Darestani, Iran U-16 women coach, is so satisfied they have opportunity to take part in an international event after 38 years. It was after two days of anxiety that Iran finally took the court at the FIBA U-16 Women’s Asian Championship basketball. Until the issues that had cast its participation into doubt were eventually […]
Elaheh Darestani, Iran U-16 women coach, is so satisfied they have opportunity to take part in an international event after 38 years.
It was after two days of anxiety that Iran finally took the court at the FIBA U-16 Women’s Asian Championship basketball. Until the issues that had cast its participation into doubt were eventually resolved on Monday, the team had endured an uncertain wait. But Darestani was not complaining. She had, after all, waited all her life.
Earlier this year, FIBA finally approved a rule allowing players to wear religious headgear. It meant that Iranian women could play basketball in hijabs, thus enabling them to take part in global tournaments for the first time since the revolution of 1979. The new rule came into effect on October 1; Monday’s game over Nepal marked the end of a 38-year hiatus.
“We are so happy because we are here now,” Darestani told thehindu.com. “It was our dream. We can now show the world how Iranian girls play.” Darestani never got to play overseas herself; she competed only in the Iranian Super League, where she has been coaching for 30 years now. “We can now wear the hijab on court,” she says.
“We can play in front of men.” When the Iran-Iraq war erupted, Darestani moved from her native Kermanshah, near the western border with Iraq, to Tehran, where she ran a training camp for the country’s best players. “War had broken out. All the basketball players came with me to Tehran and I trained them. There were 12 to 15 players,” Darestani concluded.
