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Tennis and soccer star band collectively in Iran to invent new world file | Tennis Information


Tehran, Iran – Knowledgeable tennis participant going through off towards a footballer utilizing his ft on the tennis court docket – that will be an uncommon sight anyplace.

However for this footballer, Mehdi Hobe Darvish, such feats usually are not unusual as he actively seeks them out in an effort to set world information.

At an exhibition occasion in northwestern Tehran on Thursday afternoon, he was joined by Amir Hossein Badi, one in all Iran’s high tennis gamers, on an open-air tennis hardcourt positioned on the Espinas Palace lodge.

After warming up with some keepie-uppies to entertain the cameras airing it on two native streaming providers and the handfuls of individuals watching from the stands and an adjoining constructing, the 2 athletes kicked it off on the court docket.

Badi handed the ball over the online gently with a tennis racket, and Darvish returned it along with his foot after controlling and briefly juggling it, with the ball allowed to bounce as soon as.

They managed to repeat that 637 occasions in an hour, which they and Iranian sports activities officers imagine is a world file, and one which has not been tried earlier than.

“I didn’t suppose he would final even half an hour on this warmth and daylight however he received each ball again, one thing that’s tough to do even with a racket,” Badi stated of his companion after finishing the feat.

Darvish, who had beforehand achieved a world file by juggling a tennis ball on his ft 144 occasions in a single minute in Dubai in 2010, stated that paled as compared.

“Hitting the ball over the online required rather more energy and it utterly depleted me. I had by no means skilled a lot bodily pressure,” he stated.

Footballer Mehdi Hobeh Darvish, left, with Amir Hossein Badi, one of Iran’s top tennis players, on an open-air tennis hardcourt located at the Espinas Palace Hotel [Courtesty of Mahmoud Najafzadeh]
Mehdi Hobe Darvish controls a ball from Amir Hossein Badi [Maziar Motamedi/Al Jazeera]

Hadi Rezaei, the top of Iran Nationwide Data, a committee beneath the sports activities ministry, confirmed to Al Jazeera that the feat will first be recorded at a nationwide stage earlier than being despatched to Guinness World Data for worldwide recognition.

“We’re recording every part primarily based on the required Guinness circumstances and I imagine we will register this internationally inside three months,” he stated.

Guinness didn’t reply to a request for touch upon why it doesn’t presently have any official representatives in Iran.

Inspiration for the exhibition match initially got here from a face-off between two of the best the 2 sports activities have ever seen – Cristiano Ronaldo and Rafael Nadal.

The 2 champions received on a tennis court docket in 2012, the place Nadal hit the ball along with his racket and Ronaldo returned it along with his ft with some aptitude. However that was an edited video for a Nike industrial – and the Spanish tennis star even received to indicate off his soccer abilities with a bicycle kick.

Darvish, who stated would like to play a tennis match with Ronaldo utilizing ft and has begun reaching out to the Portuguese star’s representatives to make it a actuality, wished to do it in another way, and received in contact with sports activities ministry officers.

They launched him to Badi, a member of the Iranian nationwide tennis staff, which in July made historical past by ending high of their Asia/Oceania group within the 2023 Davis Cup, securing a spot within the 2024 world group play-offs for the primary time.

Earlier than stepping on to the court docket to finish Thursday’s occasion, Darvish stated he was at all times trying to find new concepts to register fascinating information that haven’t been tried earlier than.

He as soon as received in a cable automotive on the foot of the Tochal mountain in northern Tehran and juggled a soccer till he reached the height, which sits at an elevation of roughly 4,000 metres (about 13,000 ft).

He additionally gained a lot attraction regionally in 2018 when he walked backwards up the 1,860 steps to the highest of the Milad Tower, the very best tower in Iran, whereas juggling a soccer on his ft.

He replicated the identical feat twice extra on the Milad Tower, which can be the sixth-tallest telecommunications tower on the earth, however as soon as utilizing a tennis ball and a 3rd time utilizing tiny marbles.

“I had been that means to register this new file of enjoying tennis with my ft, since I had performed ping-pong with my ft for an hour however had by no means tried this,” Darvish instructed Al Jazeera.

“It was one other new concept that I actually wished to strive for a very long time.”

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