Fathimath Dheema Ali

Fathimath Dheema Ali (ފާތިމަތު ދީމާ ޢަލީ; born 14 September 2007) is a Maldivian table tennis player. She qualified for the 2024 Summer Olympics, becoming the first Maldivian to qualify for the Olympics (previous entrants were on a quota) as well as the nation's first Olympic table tennis player.

Biography
Dheema Ali was born on 14 September 2007 in Sri Lanka, to Maldivian parents. When she was six, her father suggested she try out a sport, and after a badminton coach turned her down for being too short, she decided to try out table tennis. She started the sport by playing on the dining table at her home. While on a break from school at age eight, in 2016, she entered a tournament in Malaysia and won the under-11 competition. Later in the year, she participated at the Sri Lanka junior national championship and won the under-10 tournament, also being ranked in the top four of the under-12 tournament.

Her family moved to the Maldives in 2018 and Dheema Ali competed at the Maldivian National Championship. In her second year at the event, she won the national championship, becoming the nation's youngest-ever winner. Ranked the number one table tennis player in the Maldives, she was selected to both the junior and senior national teams. In 2018, when she was 10 years old and in grade 5, she participated at the World Team Table Tennis Championships, setting the record for youngest-ever competitor; her teammate was a quarter-century older, at age 35.

Later in 2018, Dheema Ali won silver at the South Asian Junior Table Tennis Championships in the under-12 event. She qualified for the Asian Junior Table Tennis Championship and placed second. Her medal made her the first international table tennis medalist for the Maldives, and qualified her for the World Junior Table Tennis Championship. However, at the request of her parents, she passed over the world junior championships to represent the Maldives at the Indian Ocean Island Games. There, at age 11, she won three gold medals, winning the singles, doubles and women's team events. For her performance, the Maldivian government gifted her 535,000 MVR and began funding all her training.

By April 2021, Dheema Ali was ranked by World Table Tennis as the eighth-best under-15 competitor in the world. She participated at the 2021 Islamic Solidarity Games and won the bronze medal in the team event. In 2022, she competed at the Commonwealth Games, winning the first match before losing the second. She also was named the recipient of an International Olympic Committee (IOC) scholarship that year. She was the Maldives flag bearer at the 2023 Indian Ocean Island Games and won three gold medals and a bronze.

In May 2024, Dheema Ali won the singles event at the South Asian Qualification Tournament, thus qualifying her for the 2024 Summer Olympics. She became the first person to ever qualify for the Olympics from the Maldives, as previous entrants were through a quota.