TEHRAN – Decorated Iranian karateka Sara Bahmanyar has announced her retirement from the national team after 11 years of international service, following her omission from Iran’s squad for the Nagoya Asian Games.
The 27-year-old, one of Iran’s most accomplished female karate athletes, confirmed her decision in an emotional farewell statement, bringing an end to a national team career that included an Olympic appearance, world medals, and numerous continental titles.
Bahmanyar represented Iran continuously since 2015, dedicating what she described as the best years of her youth to national team camps and international competitions. During her career, she captained the national team, competed at the Tokyo Olympics, and established herself as one of Iran’s leading karate figures.
Her impressive résumé includes two senior World Championship medals, five Asian Championship medals across individual and team events, a World Games gold medal, two medals at the Islamic Solidarity Games, as well as three world and three Asian medals at the youth level.
In her farewell message, Bahmanyar revealed that winning gold at the Nagoya Asian Games had been her primary motivation over recent months. However, after discovering that her name was absent from the national team’s roster, she concluded that her international career had reached its end.
“Being left out and losing are part of elite sport,” she wrote. “But accepting that years of effort, performance and commitment could be overlooked so easily was something I could not do. I always believed selection should be based on merit, not on preferences or decisions that are difficult to understand.”
Bahmanyar also expressed her gratitude to the Iranian people, saying that representing and bringing joy to her country would remain the greatest honor of her career, regardless of the medals she won.
She closed her statement by thanking her coaches, teammates, supporters and family, while wishing the next generation of Iranian female karate athletes every success.
Her retirement marks the end of an era for the Iranian karate athlete, with one of the country’s most decorated competitors stepping away from the national stage at just 27 years of age.
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