Ali Noghandoost: âUse your talent to help othersâ IOC - Ali Noghandoost
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On the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace (IDSDP), Iranian taekwondo athlete Ali Noghandoost, an Olympic Solidarity Refugee Athlete Scholarship-Holder hoping to qualify for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 with the Refugee Olympic Team, reflects on his journey from Iran to Europe and how sport has helped him to rebuild his life.
Ali was forced to flee his native country with his brothers and sister in 2015, leaving everything behind to run to Istanbul, Turkey, before embarking on a perilous journey in search of asylum in Europe. The most challenging part of his journey came in a three-and-a-half-hour boat ride from Turkey to Greece, where he realised that other refugees did not survive their own attempts to find safety.