Women's paintball in Iran

Women's paintball in Iran includes women's participation in recreational paintball, domestic leagues, national championships and international tournaments. A women's team was documented in published photographs in 2005, and the Iran Paintball Association recorded the opening round of a national women's league in December 2011.[1][2]

Domestic competition has included team and individual events using mechanical and electronic markers. Internationally, Datis Girls competed in Division 3 at Paintball World Cup Asia in 2012 and 2013. National league records and team publications document women's competition and player development during the 2020s.[3][4][5]

History

Early participation

On 5 October 2005, The Iranian published a photographic feature entitled "Women's paintball team in Iran", credited to Hamid Nikpour. Its publication documents organised women's participation but does not establish the team's founding date.[1]

On 4 February 2007, BBC Persian published an interview featuring Babak Esmaeili and Behnaz Foroutan, identified respectively as men's and women's paintball team captains. Foroutan described taking up paintball after encountering it through her husband. The interview explicitly stated that women's competitions were being held in Iran.[6]

National league, 2011–2012

The Iran Paintball Association published women's league entry conditions in November 2011. These required team registration, identification cards and compliance with INPL Division 2 rules. The rules reference did not place the women's teams within the men's second-division standings.[7]

The association's results identify Babolsar, Mazandaran Province, as the host of the first women's round, held alongside the second men's round from 14 to 16 December 2011. Datis finished first, Javidan second and the host team Roham Babolsar third.[2]

An association announcement in December 2011 appointed Leila Niyam to lead the national women's paintball committee and credited her involvement in launching the women's league.[8]

On 27 February 2012, Planet Eclipse reported that Datis Girls had won the women's cup and been crowned champions for the Iranian calendar year 1390. The report described an INPL event involving 26 teams across three divisions, including a dedicated women's bracket. The total covered the combined event rather than the women's competition alone.[9]

On 17 May 2012, the opening women's league round of 1391 took place in Tehran. Seven teams represented Tehran, Alborz, Qazvin, Isfahan and East Azerbaijan provinces. Datis Alborz won, followed by Javidan Tehran and Titan Qazvin.[10]

Provincial and three-player competition, 2013–2014

An Isfahan provincial amateur event at Saital in July 2013 included five women's teams alongside nine men's teams. Tandis won the women's competition.[11]

For 1393, the association announced a women's programme using three players on the field, with three reserves permitted and three rounds planned under INPL rules.[12]

The opening event took place in Karaj on 18 April 2014 with six teams. Ariaman One won, followed by Datis, Ariaman Two, Amertat, Adrenaline and Griffin.[13]

Organisation and university participation, 2016–2017

Contemporary interviews describe difficulties in organising women's competition. In February 2016, Hamid Nikpour told the Young Journalists Club that the association had not managed to organise women's competition that year, citing venue and participation difficulties. In April, women's official Leila Niyam discussed domestic activity but identified weak coordination in attending competitions as a problem.[14][15]

University records document a separate strand of participation. Ferdowsi University of Mashhad's sports channel published a notice linking to a female students' paintball competition report in January 2017. In December, it published women's podium groups from its public-sport festival, listing five players in each of the top three groups.[16][17]

IWPL and Paintball for All

Electronic competition

A Hamshahri report published on 16 December 2018 identified the second event of the national women's league using the initials IWPL. It distinguished that competition from Paintball for All (PFA), with electronic and mechanical events reported separately.[18]

The electronic three-player placings were Datis first, Griffin second, Ariaman third and Kartal fourth.[18]

Original PFA Media posts published on 1 December 2018 identify the second IWPL event as an electronic-marker competition and independently confirm the top three.[19]

Mechanical competition

PFA also organised women's mechanical-marker competitions in team and individual formats.

At the second women's round, held on 27 July 2018, Shahab One won the mechanical three-player competition ahead of Shahab Three and Shahab Two. Raheleh Hajian won the individual competition, followed by Mahdieh Darkhah and Mobina Pourmousa.[20]

At the third round on 28 September 2018, Shahab One again won the three-player competition, followed by Shahab Three and Shahab Four. A separate two-player competition placed Shahab Three first, Shahab One second and Shahab Two third.[21]

The fifth and final round took place on 25 January 2019 and also served as the women's national championship in the mechanical class. Six three-player teams and 21 individual competitors represented Tehran, Golestan, Khorasan Razavi and Isfahan provinces.[22]

Shahab Golestan won the final-round team competition, followed by Shahid Nikpasand vocational school and Shahab One. Raheleh Hajian won the individual event, followed by Mozhdeh Taghipour and Zohreh Alimohammadi.[22]

The overall league standings across five rounds differed from the final-round results:[22]

Position	Three-player mechanical team	Individual mechanical player
1st	Shahab One	Raheleh Hajian
2nd	Shahab Three	Mahdieh Darkhah
3rd	Shahab Two	Mahsa Moradi

These were PFA mechanical season standings, rather than an IWPL electronic championship table.[22]

Competition in 1398

The opening national women's PFA round of 1398 took place on 26 July 2019 at Takhti Stadium, Tehran. Shahab One won the mechanical three-player competition ahead of Shahab Three and Shahab Two. Raheleh Hajian won the individual mechanical event, followed by Mahdieh Darkhah and Fatemeh Fahim.[23]

At the fourth national round on 6 February 2020, also at Takhti Stadium, the team podiums were:[24][25]

Position	Mechanical three-player	Electronic three-player
1st	Shahab	Datis Tehran
2nd	Hyrcania One	Datis Shemiranat
3rd	Hyrcania Two	Number One

Raheleh Hajian won the individual mechanical competition, followed by Hanieh Abedi and Maryam Kordi. Pardis Farnezhad won the individual electronic competition, followed by Mozhdeh Bashiri and Nahid Kelishadi.[24][25]

Competition in the 2020s

National league in 2023

On 27 December 2023, Bandar Abbas hosted the fourth round of the women's electronic three-player league, with six teams competing. IRIB reported Singo Elite of Hormozgan as league champion with 377 points.[26]

Position	Team	Points
1st	Singo Elite	377
2nd	Belona, Rasht	315
3rd	Singo Persian Gulf	215

National league in 2024

The third national league round of 1403 took place in Mashhad from 3 to 6 Mehr 1403 (24–27 September 2024). The organiser reported five women's teams and sixteen men's teams at the combined event.[4]

Datis Tehran won the women's professional electronic competition, followed by Persian Gulf Tehran and Spad Mashhad.[4]

In a retrospective post published on 23 September 2025, the Datis organisation described its women's squad as "Overall champions 2024". The caption attributes the achievement to 2024 rather than its publication year, but does not provide a complete season table or points total.[5]

Recruitment and competition in 2025

An August 2025 announcement sought players for the Datis women's squad alongside Datis Tehran and Datis Shemiranat. It scheduled an online theory assessment followed by practical trials at the Sang Ahan Bafq paintball academy in Yazd Province.[27]

On 22 October 2025, the organisation announced another national competition victory for its women's team, using the name Datis Ladies. The caption identified Milock as the supporter of that event.[28]

A subsequent post named Asal Arab-Baraghi, number 86, as the most valuable player of the second round of national competition. The announcement was published on 23 October 2025.[29]

Documented players and activity in 2026

The Datis organisation continued publishing material about its women players during 2026.

An August post identified footage of Sepideh and Nazanin playing at a national championship held in Rasht. The caption specifies the location but does not establish the event's year or exact playing dates.[30]

Individual profiles identified Zahra Afzali, number 18, and Sarvenaz Komasi, number 09.[31][32]

An earlier Datis Ladies profile identified Pardis Farnezhad, number 07, and described her participation in paintball as extending back to the Iranian year 1389 (2010–2011). This is an account of the player's experience rather than the team's founding date.[33]

International competition

Datis Girls, associated with the wider Datis organisation, competed at consecutive World Cup Asia tournaments in Langkawi, Malaysia.[3][9]

PBLeagues records the following results:[3]

Dates	Tournament	Division	Result
9–11 November 2012	Paintball World Cup Asia	Division 3	44th of 46
15–17 November 2013	NAZA Paintball World Cup Asia	Division 3	25th of 54

The team's 2013 preliminary results included victories against Raging Phoenix, Hellion Reborn and Leopard, and defeats against Hooligans and A.C.E.S. These appearances were in Division 3 rather than a separate women's tournament division.[34]

References

External links