Maldivian table tennis prodigy Dheema wins Olympic scholarship

Fathimath Dheema Ali, Maldivian table tennis prodigy has won an Olympic scholarship.

The scholarship, initiated by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is a financial support provided to athletes who stand to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympics among those from different regions of the globe with the required skillset and achievements.

Speaking to RaajjeMV, President of the Table Tennis Association of Maldives (TTAM), Ali Rasheed revealed that Dheema winning the opportunity is a major success to the island nation’s sports sector and TT family.

He credited the opportunity to the hard work and trainings conducted for Dheema with the support and invaluable contributions of her family and Minister of Sports, Youth and Community Empowerment, Ahmed Mahloof.

Rasheed stated that this opportunity will pave the way for more eases in the future.

Dheema’s training is currently being carried out in Bangkok, Thailand, after the opportunity was paved by the sports minister.

Dheema, who has been training for the past three months, will return to Maldives 10 days before the South Asian Junior and Cadet Championship slated for March 2022.

Rasheed went on to reveal that work is currently underway to establish a quality new training center, with the joint collaboration from her family. Further, in a bid to ensure her studies are not hindered in the process, efforts are also being put into finding an international school.

Dheema is the youngest most successful athlete in the Maldives who is a shining star in the sport. She had earlier jumped ranks in the world’s junior ranking as well. As such, she ranked eighth place in the World Table Tennis Junior Ranking’s U-15 category by April 2021, making her the first and only Maldivian athlete to rank in the Top 10 of world rankings. The table tennis player has been making good uses of the opportunities presented to her.

The young TT prodigy’s first-ever prominent win was in 2016 when she claimed the championship title of a TT competition in Malaysia. She also claimed the title in Sri Lanka’s Junior National Table Tennis later on. Other achievements include three gold medals in the Indian Ocean Island Games (IOIG) of 2019, at the young age of 11.

In addition to this, she won a gold medal in the South Asia Hopes Competition and went on to earn a silver in Asia Hopes competition, in turn qualifying for the World Hopes Competition. She is also a champion of the National Table Tennis singles, for two consecutive years.

The young TT prodigy earlier revealed her aspiration to qualify for the Olympics and bring her home country a proud win.