It took climber Ali Salimian five days to get from his home in Iran to China as he chased his dream of qualifying for the Asian Games – three weeks later, he is still on the mainland, preparing for this weekend’s World Cup and thankful for the kindness of strangers.

As is the case with many elite athletes in Iran, Salimian’s participation in international competition is usually self-funded. Not easy at the best of times, organising this particular trip was made much harder by the US and Israel war on his country.

There was the fraught 15-hour car ride from Tehran to Tabriz in Iran’s northwest near the Turkish border. The crossing to Van, a city on the lake that carries its name, the 40-hour bus journey to Istanbul and the countless hours then spent getting a visa.

Even then, it needed several flights and another 24 hours to get to Chengdu, the nearest dropping-off point for the World Climbing Asia Championship in the Sichuan city of Meishan.

“It was a lot of hard things for me,” Salimian said. “I didn’t have a good sleep for five days. Everything was bad and I got a cold before the competition. And this is the Asia Championships; everybody is strong.”

Making the journey alone left the 26-year-old at a disadvantage compared with his rivals. Having no coaches or support staff left him needing to “arrange everything for my competition”.