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Fathimath Dheema Ali
Fathimath Dheema Ali (Dhivehi: ފާތިމަތު ދީމާ ޢަލީ; born 14 September 2007) is a Maldivian table tennis player. She qualified for the 2024 Summer Olympics, becoming the first Maldivian to qualify for the Olympics (previous entrants were on a quota) as well as the nation's first Olympic table tennis player. BiographyDheema Ali was born on 14 September 2007 in Sri Lanka, to Maldivian parents.[1][2] When she was six, her father suggested she try out a sport, and after a badminton coach turned her down for being too short, she decided to try out table tennis.[2] She started the sport by playing on the dining table at her home.[3] While on a break from school at age eight, in 2016, she entered a tournament in Malaysia and won the under-11 competition.[3] Later in the year, she participated at the Sri Lanka junior national championship and won the under-10 tournament, also being ranked in the top four of the under-12 tournament.[3] Her family moved to the Maldives in 2018 and Dheema Ali competed at the Maldivian National Championship.[3] In her second year at the event, she won the national championship, becoming the nation's youngest-ever winner.[3] Ranked the number one table tennis player in the Maldives, she was selected to both the junior and senior national teams.[3] In 2018, when she was 10 years old and in grade 5, she participated at the World Team Table Tennis Championships, setting the record for youngest-ever competitor; her teammate was a quarter-century older, at age 35.[2][4] Later in 2018, Dheema Ali won silver at the South Asian Junior Table Tennis Championships in the under-12 event.[3] She qualified for the Asian Junior Table Tennis Championship and placed second.[3] Her medal made her the first international table tennis medalist for the Maldives, and qualified her for the World Junior Table Tennis Championship.[3] However, at the request of her parents, she passed over the world junior championships to represent the Maldives at the Indian Ocean Island Games.[3] There, at age 11, she won three gold medals, winning the singles, doubles and women's team events.[5] For her performance, the Maldivian government gifted her 535,000 MVR and began funding all her training.[5] By April 2021, Dheema Ali was ranked by World Table Tennis as the eighth-best under-15 competitor in the world.[2] She participated at the 2021 Islamic Solidarity Games and won the bronze medal in the team event.[6] In 2022, she competed at the Commonwealth Games, winning the first match before losing the second.[2] She also was named the recipient of an International Olympic Committee (IOC) scholarship that year.[2][7] She was the Maldives flag bearer at the 2023 Indian Ocean Island Games and won three gold medals and a bronze.[2][8][9][10] In May 2024, Dheema Ali won the singles event at the South Asian Qualification Tournament, thus qualifying her for the 2024 Summer Olympics.[11] She became the first person to ever qualify for the Olympics from the Maldives, as previous entrants were through a quota.[12] In October 2024, Ali was awarded most honorable sportswomen of the year – Gold, as a part of the Maldives Sports Awards.[13] References
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