"I just have a total concentration on my main aim."

After his world record lift in the above 107kg category at the IPC Powerlifting Asian Open Championships, Iran’s Mansour Pourmirzaei has been voted the IPC Athlete of the Month with a landslide victory.

The 33-year-old stunned the crowd at the IPC Powerlifting Asian Open Championships, lifting 276kg in the men’s +107kg category to smash the world record by 36kg and win gold at Titiwangsa Stadium in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Pourmirzaei credits his coach, Seyed Reza Hosseini, for the victory, who he calls his “light and guidance”.

“The mental preparation includes two phases,” he explained. “The first one starts six months before the competition in which the focus is only on the competition itself, and the important next phase concentrates on mental preparation exactly before and during the match session.

“In the first phase, I decide how to lift and how much to lift, but in the second phase, I just have a total concentration on my main aim. My training program and schedules are conducted by my coach who leads me in this regard.”

Pourmirzaie’s next major competition will be the 2014 IPC Powerlifting World Championships in Dubai from 5-11 April 2014 where he is setting his sights high.

“I think of 300kg, and I hope, if God willing, to lift it and break the world record."

In November’s Athlete of the Month vote on paralympic.org, the Iranian beat Algeria’s wheelchair basketballer Nabil Guedoun, Japan’s wheelchair tennis player Yui Kamiji, USA marathon racer Tatyana McFadden, Russian archer Timur Tuchinov and Lithuanian goalballer Marius Zioblis.

IPC Athlete of the Month nominations are compiled from submissions by National Paralympic Committees and International Federations. Fans can vote on paralympic.org.