TEHRAN, Feb. 14 (MNA) – Iranian para-powerlifting national team have departed for UAE to attend the 2016 Fazza IPC Powerlifting World Cup in Dubai.

The Iranian squad consists of Siamand Rahman, Ali Sadeghzadeh, Saman Razi, Seyed Hamed Solhipour, Majid Farzin as well as Mansour Pourmirzaei led by Ahmad Deljavan as head coach and Gholmareza Astaraki as coach.

The seventh Fazza IPC Powerlifting World Cup has kicked off on Friday February 12 with 210 participants from 42 countries set to compete at the Dubai Club for the Disabled across nine days until Saturday February 20.

Iranian para-powerlifters left Tehran on Saturday and will have the opportunity to compete against the very best in the world on Monday February 15.

Fazza IPC tournament marks one of the major competitions for athletes on the road to the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games while Malaysia will host another IPC Powerlifting World Cup before the Rio Paralympics in September.

The 42 countries competing at this year’s event are as follows: Algeria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Canada, Colombia, Egypt, Finland, France, Georgia, Ghana, Great Britain, Hungary, India, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Ivory Coast, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Mongolia, Morocco, the Netherlands, Oman, the Philippines, Poland, Russia, Serbia , Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, South Africa, South Korea, Syria, Thailand, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and tournament hosts the United Arab Emirates.