Sailing is usually considered a muscular job worldwide. Women usually are not interested in the job given its demanding nature, but an Iranian woman has become a successful sailor.

Raheleh Tahmasebi Sarvestani is an Iranian seawoman who says is in love with sailing even though you rarely see a woman on a ship as a sailor.

She has been elected as the Best Sailor of the Year (2016-2017) in Hormozgan Province in southern Iran.

Raheleh is one of the few female sailors in the naval fleet of the Islamic Republic of Iran. She is one among all Iranian women who have attempted to overcome obstacles in their way to play their social role.

In a Farsi interview with ISNA, Tahmasebi has talked about her love for sailing as well as her relentless efforts to overcome the obstacles in the way to win a job on a ship.

Excerpts of her interview follow:

Second Lieutenant of a Military Vessel

Raheleh was born in 1984. She is now the second lieutenant of military vessels between 500 to 3000 tons. “I passed my training courses on a commercial ship titled Saghar. Then I began to serve on another ship titled Hormuz Pishro and now I’m preparing for a number of exams.”

Raheleh went on saying that to become a captain, she has to undergo various training courses which may take at least 16 years. “We have to begin our carrier as a sailor. After undergoing several training courses from first to third Lieutenant, we enter a new phase with special courses for becoming a captain. Then we need to pass several other courses. In each course, the applicants must pass special trainings.”

In Love with Demanding Job

On her reasons to choose sailing as her job, the Iranian seawoman said, “I’ve always been looking for a special job for which I was ready to pay a price. First, I began to conduct some researches on the job conditions of flight attendants. Then I heard of a training course for sailing which was going to be held in the southern province of Hormozgan and decided to attend the course.”

“Having passed the course, I began to realize that I’m capable enough to take the demanding job. It made me more determined to go ahead with my decision. The job has its own problems and few women apply for this job because most people are not capable of taking it.”

Feeling Pleased as a Successful Woman

Raheleh said she is proud of herself as a successful woman in the sailing industry.

“I’m sure that I can take the job and there is a long distance ahead. One of the main reasons behind my success in this field is my love for sea and my strong will to go ahead with my decision. I believe a lover can’t forget her love under any conditions.”

Raheleh said the Iranian women can enter the sailing industry after passing the university exam or undergoing special sailing courses in the licensed institutes. She added that the sailing is a hard and muscular job which requires undergoing hard courses, but women can pass the courses if they want. / IFP /

Iranian Male and Female Kumite Senior Teams claimed the titles of the 14th Asian Karate Federation (AKF) Senior Championships on Sunday.

Kumite Male Senior Team consists of Bahman Asgari Ghoncheh, Aliasghat Asiabari, Sajjad Ganjzadeh, Ebrahim Hassanbeigi, Saman Heydari, Mehdi Khodabakhshi and Zabihollah Poorshab won the title after defeating Saudi Arabia 3-0 in the final match.

The Iranian team also defeated India, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan. The Iranian Kumite Female Senior team also won the title, beating Chinese Taipei 3-2 in the final match.

The Iranian woman team previously beat Malaysia, Vietnam and Japan on the way to the final match.

The competitions were held in Astana, Kazakhstan. / Tehran times /

Iranian animated piece ‘The Servant’ by Farnoosh Abedi has won the second Best Animation Award at the 20th San Francisco Black Film Festival (SFBFF).

The 20th edition of San Francisco Black Film Festival (SFBFF) announced Farnoosh Abedi’s highly-acclaimed animation ‘The Servant’ as runner up in the best animation category of the American film festival. The first prize went to ‘Abina and the Important Men’ by Soumyaa Behrens.

According to Abedi, ‘The Servant’ narrates the familiar story of a master and his servant, the story of a writer’s encounter with a gigantic insect: a cockroach. The cockroach becomes a servant but gradually begins to realize that it deserves better conditions, so it tries to turn the table and change the game in its own favor. The man, however, attempts to preserve the current situation but soon realizes that the game has no rules.

‘Servant’ has recently won Best Short Animation award at Querétaro International Film Festival in Mexico, as well as the 2017 Silver Scream Festival in California and the Audience award at 13th International Fantastic Film Festival of Porto Alegre (Fantaspoa) in Brazil.

San Francisco Black Film Festival was founded to celebrate African American cinema and provide a platform for Black filmmakers, screenwriters, and actors to present their art. It was later expanded to include a global perspective, accepting films worldwide from filmmakers and screenwriters who are of African descent and others.

The 20th edition of San Francisco Black Film Festival (SFBFF) was held on 15-18 June 2017 in California, US.  / Meher news /

Iranian short film ‘Lunch Time’ won three awards at The Porto Alegre Screenwriting Festival – FRAPA, in Brazil.

Lunch Time, directed by Alireza Ghasemi, narrates the story of a 16-year-old girl who has come to the hospital to identify the body of her mother. The people in charge at the hospital – due to her young age – won’t let her into the morgue.

Earlier, Lunch Time had become the official selection of Cannes Court Metrage (Cannes Short Film Corner) with the selection committee receiving 4843 short films from which 9 films from Finland, France, United Kingdom, Denmark, Greece, Iran, the US, Poland, China, Colombia, and Sweden were shortlisted.

Khorshid Cheraghipour, Rooya Bakhtiari, Amir Taghdiri, Peyman Naemi, Siavash Cheraghipour, Bahram Emrani, Pouria Akhavan, Mohammad Hadadi, Alireza Ghasemi, Mahdi Yegane, Arash Ghasemi are among the cast members of Lunch Time.

The Porto Alegre Screenwriting Festival – FRAPA is the first Latin American screenwriting festival focused in film and television. Since its first year, the festival has become a powerful space to think and debate screenwriting in Latin America, bringing hundreds of professionals from all over the continent to the South Brazilian capital of Porto Alegre and contributing for the exchange of experiences, the qualification of professionals and the celebration of new partnerships in Brazilian TV and film production. / Meher news /

Iran’s exports of dairy products rose by 92 percent in the first 2 months of the current Iranian calendar year, which started on March 21, 2017, compared to the same period last year.

According to statistics released by the Iran Customs Administration, some 198,000 tons of dairies were exported in the 2-month timespan in comparison with 103,000 tons the year before, ISNA quoted Deputy Agriculture Minister Hassan Rokni as saying.

The products have been exported mainly to the neighboring countries, Central Asia, Europe, and Russia, he said.

Iran exported 850,000 tons of dairy products in the past Iranian calendar year (which ended on March 20), while the figure was 600,000 tons in its preceding year, Fars news agency reported in late March quoting Rokni as saying.

The official announced that Russia jointed the importers of Iran’s dairy products in the past year.

While putting emphasis on supporting milk producers in the country, he expressed hope for an improvement in the production and export of dairy products. / Tehran times /

In line with the guidelines of Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, educational facilities have been provided to more than 80,000 children of both legal and illegal foreign refugees during 2014 and 2015, said director general of Interior Ministry’s Bureau for Aliens and Foreign Immigrants Affairs.

Ahmad Mohammadifar said, “We established one class for every 30 foreign pupils during the period, thus the total of 2,600 classes have been added to the country’s educational capacity.”

The official noted that 250 schools should be constructed nationwide to meet the educational requirements of foreign refugees, adding 30 schools have so far been established in cooperation with the UN in 2016.

He added that more than 330 children of foreign nationals received education in Iranian schools before 2014.

Mohammadifar said immigrants made up four percent of Iran’s population, adding based on figures released by the UN, Iran is the world’s fourth destination for foreign refugees.

“About 11 percent of Afghan population, which is roughly three million legal and illegal refugees, are living in Iran”, he said, underlining that healthcare facilities are also available to all refugees.

He said free health insurance coverage has been extended for 114,000 foreign nationals residing in Iran, adding ground has been prepared to increase the figure to 800,000.

/ Iran Daily /

Iran’s athletics squad collected one bronze and four gold medals to occupy the fourth position overall in the 22nd edition of Asian Athletics Championships.

Host India won the title at the 2017 Asian Athletics Championships which was held from 6 July to 9 July 2017 at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar state.

Of the 14 athletes who represented Iran in the prestigious sportive event, Ehsan Haddadi, Ali Samari, Hassan Taftian and Hossein Keyhani claimed gold medals in discus throw, hammer throw, 100m spring and 3000m steeplechase events, respectively.

The only bronze medal of the Iranian outfit was bagged by Mohsen Niadoost who took part in the 1500meter race.

Persian athletes ranked fourth in the final table of medals and achieved their best ever performance in the history of the Asian competitions.

Indians collected 12 gold, five silver and 12 bronze medals to stand on top of the podium with a total of 29 trophies. China came second with 20 medals including eight gold, seven silver and five bronze medals. The third position was taken by Kazakh athletes who earned four golds, two silvers and two bronzes. Iran, Vietnam and South Korea ranked fourth to sixth with five, four and four medals respectively. / Meher news /