Moqanlou steps down as Iran taekwondo coach
Bijan Moqanlou announced his resignation as the head coach of the Iranian men’s national taekwondo team on Saturday.
Appointed to the job in April 2022, Moqanlou said he made the decision due to “lack of common approach” with the Iranian Taekwondo Federation.
The 54-year-old coach had been under pressure after recent blow-par runs at the World Championships and the Asian Games.
The country’s male squad managed only a couple of bronze medals – courtesy of Matin Rezaei (-68kg) and Arian Salimi (-87kg) – across eight weight classes in June’s world event in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Iran also failed to bag a single gold at the recently-finished Hangzhou Asian Games, as Salimi, Mahdi Hajimousaei (-58kg), Alireza Hosseinpour (-63kg) settled for the silver medals of their respective classes, while Rezaei and Mehran Barkhordari (-80kg) grabbed two bronze medals.
The Iranian seven-man team then left the World Taekwondo Grand Prix in Taiyuan, China, empty-handed.
Majid Aflaki, an assistant coach to Moqanlou during his second spell in charge, will be the interim coach of the Iranian team for December’s final series of the World Taekwondo Grand Prix in Manchester.