Iraqi table tennis player Nur al-Huda Sarmad adjusts her wheelchair before striking the ball into play, braving sweltering heat, social stigma and inadequate facilities as she dreams of taking her team to the Paralympics.

Sarmad and seven other Iraqi women who live with disabilities train three times a week at a community centre in the southern city of Diwaniyah, preparing for an upcoming tournament that could qualify them for the national Paralympic team.

The facilities, however, are far from Olympic-standard.

"The tennis tables are broken, there are power outages and we even have to buy our own paddles," said Sarmad, 25.

With no dedicated training facility, the team often has to share the three second-hand tables at the public community centre with visitors.

In the scorching Iraqi summer they cannot turn on the fans, which would disrupt the movement of the balls.

And the air conditioner that........

© Al Monitor