Zahra Kiani

Kiani's first major international competition was at the 2010 World Junior Wushu Championships where she earned the silver medal in girl's group C jianshu. She then made her debut at the Asian Junior Wushu Championships in 2011 where she won a gold medal in jianshu and a silver medal in jianshu. Two years later at the 2013 Asian Junior Wushu Championships, she earned a silver medal in jianshu and a bronze medal in changquan. A year later at the 2014 World Junior Wushu Championships, she won two gold medals and a bronze medal. Kiani then won two gold medals and a silver medal at the 2015 Asian Junior Wushu Championships^[2] and achieved the same medals at the 2016 World Junior Wushu Championships.^[3] Her last junior competition was the 2017 Asian Junior Championships she won gold medals in qiangshu and duilian and a bronze medal in jianshu.^[4][5]

Kiani made her senior international debut the following year at the 2015 World Wushu Championships, she won the silver medal in compulsory changquan.^[6][7] With her high placements at the world championships, Kiani qualified for the 2016 Taolu World Cup where she earned a silver medal in changquan and a bronze medal in jianshu.^[8][9] A year later at the 2017 World Wushu Championships, she earned another bronze medal in jianshu.^[10][11] At the 2018 Asian Games, Kiani won the silver medal in women's jianshu and qiangshu combined, the first medal for Iran in wushu taolu at the Asian Games.^[12][13] over a year later, she competed at the 2019 World Wushu Championships where she won a bronze medal in changquan.^[14][15]

After the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kiani's first major appearance was at the 2022 Asian Games (held in 2023) where she won the silver medal in women's jianshu and qiangshu combined.^[16] Shortly after, she competed at the 2023 World Combat Games and won the silver medal in women's jianshu and qiangshu combined. Unable to take part in the 2023 World Wushu Championships due to visa issues,^[17] Kiani competed in the 2024 International Wushu Invitational Tournament where she won gold medals in changquan and qiangshu.^[18][19] A few months later, she became a two-time Asian champion and bronze medalist at the 2024 Asian Wushu Championships.^[20][21][22]