Iranian karatekas denied Hungarian visa for world meet
Several members of the Iranian karate team will not take part at the upcoming World Senior Karate Championships in Budapest after the Hungarian Embassy in Tehran refused to issue entry visas for them.
The Iranian men’s and women’s squads left Tehran for the Hungarian capital on Thursday, with male kata representative Ali Zand as well as the country’s female kata trio and the whole para karate team missing out on the flight.
Iran will be back at the event – starting Sunday – after being absent in the previous edition in Dubai two years ago due to positive coronavirus test results for several members of the team.
Tokyo Olympic champion Sajjad Ganjzadeh headlines the men’s team in Budapest, chasing a second major +84kg gold in less than a month following a top-podium finish at the recently-finished Hangzhou Asian Games.
Ganjzadeh will be joined by Ali Meskini (-60kg), Amir-Reza Borzouei (-67kg), Saman Edalati (-75kg), and Mahdi Khodabakhshi (-84kg) in the kumite contests.
Khodabakhshi and Ganjzadeh will also team up with Bahman Askari, Zabihollah Poursheib, Saleh Abazari, Mahdi Ashouri, and Mahmoud Ne’mati as Iran will be after a fourth team kumite gold at the World Championships, having dominated the competitions on three successive occasions between 2014 and 2018.
Meanwhile, bronze medalists at the Asian Games Sara Bahmanyar (-50kg) and Fatemeh Sa’adati (-55kg) plus Atousa Golshadnejad (-61kg), Mobina Heidari (-68kg), and Leila Borj-Ali (+68kg) will be the Iranian contestants in the women’s kumite contests.
The five Iranian girls will be coached by Leila Bahrami, who replaced Farahnaz Arbab right before the competitions.