Morteza Mehrzadselakjani is the most dominant Paralympic volleyballer around

THIS Iranian athlete can touch the top of Shaquille O’Neal’s head — sitting down. Opposition players have got no answers.

Mehrzadselakjani stands out in a pack. Picture: Lianne Milton for The New York Times/Headpress

MORTEZA Mehrzadselakjani is an absolute giant — there’s no other way to put it.

He’s 2.46m tall — making him the tallest man in his home country of Iran, the tallest athlete at the Rio Paralympics and tallest Paralympian ever.

Given that, it’s no surprise he’s the biggest weapon the Iranian Paralympic volleyball team has.

The London silver medallists have romped to straight sets wins in their first two matches in Brazil, against China and Bosnia and Herzegovina, due in no small part to the work of Mehrzadselakjani.

The amazing thing is, the 28-year-old does all his best work on the ground.

In Paralympic volleyball, players with a variety of ailments sit down and try to get the ball over a net that’s roughly 1.15m off the floor. To the average spectator, that looks like a piece of cake for the Iranian colossus. Just check out some of his highlights from Rio so far.

#Iran look unstoppable. Easily win 2nd set 25-13 #tallestathlete @Paralympics @Iranvolleyball @Rio2016_en pic.twitter.com/fwpShAgO74

— World ParaVolley (@ParaVolley) September 10, 2016

Height dominance! #Iran race ahead to win 1st set 25-17 #sittingvolleyball @Paralympics @Rio2016_en @Iranvolleyball pic.twitter.com/yNcHR7JCUc

— World ParaVolley (@ParaVolley) September 13, 2016

Mehrzadselakjani became involved in volleyball when Iran’s coach Hadi Rezaeigarkani got in contact after seeing him on a TV program about physical disorders. Muhammad Ali Dahestani has featured Mehrzad on his disability sport show and told the UK’s The Daily Telegraph: “He wins a lot. Because he’s so tall, he doesn’t have to move that much. He just has to raise his long hand and go boom, boom, boom.”

Going “boom, boom, boom” is a lot easier when you consider the following facts.

Even sitting down, when he raises his right arm it reaches a height of 1.93m — his maximum effort for a block. He could give most people a haircut with his legs crossed.

When spiking — the term used to describe a forceful attacking shot to get the ball over the net — he can get his dominant hand up to 2.3m in the air. You have to pity the poor folks on the other side of the net whose job it is to try and return any of Mehrzadselakjani’s serves.

After taking up the sport five years ago, he made his international debut in March and won the award for best spiker at the Intercontinental Cup in China. He’s only improved, continuing to dominate at the Paralympics.

While these all seem like reasons to walk around with a permanent smile on your face, it isn’t all good news for the Iranian superstar.

He suffers from acromegaly, which is a medical condition that arises from the brain’s pituitary gland producing too much growth hormone after the body’s growth plates have closed. By the age of 16 he was already over 1.9m tall.

Guess who was always picked first at school... Iran's sitting volleyball player Morteza Mehrzad is 8 feet 1 inch. pic.twitter.com/4c5unPRcBn

— Ben Bloom (@benbloomsport) September 13, 2016

But people rarely get to see him standing to attention. He seriously injured his pelvis in a bike accident as a teenager, meaning he now spends significant amounts of time either on crutches or in a wheelchair.

His right leg has stopped growing, and it is about 15cm shorter than his left. The sad reality is that as much joy as he’s bringing his teammates and his country in Rio at the moment, his height does not bode well for his long term future.

“His health is not going well. His health is currently declining because he’s getting taller. I think he’s still growing,” said Ali Dahestani. “The first time we saw him he could walk better but now he has to walk with crutches.”

Despite that, now is the time to focus on the positives. Iran has won five gold medals and two silvers across the last seven Paralympics, and with Mehrzadselakjani’s help, they look every chance of heading back home from these Games with some more bling around their necks.

They lost to the Ukraine in the gold medal match in London 2012, and they face them on Thursday (AEST) in their final group match. No doubt they’ll be looking to Mehrzadselakjani to reverse the result from four years ago.

“We have given him the platform to be Paralympic champion,” Rezaeigarkani said earlier in the tournament. “We are preparing him to make history.”

And if you think he’s good now, just imagine what he’ll be like after even more international experience.

“He’s only 50 per cent of what he could be at the moment,” Rezaeigarkani was quoted as saying by The New York Times. “In two years Mehrzad will be the best player ever.”

How do you beat that? Picture: Lianne Milton for The New York Times/Headpress