Morteza Mehrzad, the 'giant' lynchpin of Iran's sitting volleyball team

Morteza Mehrzad, the 'giant' lynchpin of Iran's sitting volleyball team

Iran's sitting volleyball star, Morteza Mehrzad, has battled countless challenges due to his towering height, but now he's ready to help propel his team to another victory at the Paris Paralympics.

At an imposing 2.46 metres (8 ft 0.85 in), Mehrzad is the second tallest living man in the world and the tallest athlete ever to compete in the Paralympics, according to the International Paralympic Committee website.

Mehrzad was diagnosed at a young age with acromegaly, a rare condition caused by excessive growth hormone.

Over the years, his height has been a crucial asset for Iran's team.

The country has participated in the sitting volleyball Paralympic Games since 1988 in Seoul, emerging as champions seven out of nine times The country’s main rival is Bosnia which is home to dozens of sitting volleyball clubs, due in no small part to the large numbers of people wounded in the Bosnian war that killed nearly 100,000 people in the early 90s.

Ermin Jusufovic, one of the pillars of the Bosnian team, is hoping to dethrone the long-dominant Iranians at the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games.