Table tennis has been part of my life since I was a child in Iran. I started at our local club in Qaemshahr, under a coach named Kianoosh Kaboli, who taught me far more than forehands and backhands. She gave me confidence, the instinct to think under pressure, and a belief that even something as competitive as sport can be pursued with love. By ten I was competing nationally, and for years I won medals at Iran's national championships, representing my state, Mazandaran.

At seventeen I reached the junior national team trials, then chose science over a professional athletic path. I studied physics at Sharif University of Technology, where I helped start its first women's table tennis team.

I never stopped playing. After moving to the U.S. for graduate school in 2014, I helped start the women's table tennis team at Washington University in St. Louis, won NCTTA Lower Midwest women's singles, doubles, and team titles, with medals at the regional level, and became Pennsylvania State women's singles champion in 2023. I still compete today, earning sanctioned titles at clubs across the U.S.

More than any title, the game has shaped who I am.