Iran capable of winning 10 Asian Games medals: New athletics chief
Ehsan Haddadi, the newly-elected president of the Iranian Athletics Federation, said the country is capable of grabbing 10 medals in the Asian Games in the near future.
The sole Olympic medalist – a discus throw silver in London 2012 – in the history of the Iranian athletics, Haddadi garnered 40 votes in the electoral assembly of the federation on Monday to beat Abbas-Ali Maddih, who had 17 votes, to the four-year reign in the governing body of the sport.
Widely regarded as the all-time greatest Iranian in the sport, Haddadi, 39, dominated the discus throw contests of the Asian Games between 2006 and 2018 before calling time on his illustrious career last year in Hangzhou, where he settled for the silver at the Games – finishing second to fellow-countryman Hossein Rasouli.
“I dedicated 23 years of my life to the athletics and I am proud of it. That is what I am going to do from now on,” said the new chairman of the federation.
“The burden of the responsibility is definitely going to be great, but I can promise you that the Iranian athletics will flourish, should we all stay united,” added Haddadi, for whom the job is the first administrative role in his career.
“Iran has won a single medal in the history of the Olympics, but I am sure the country has the potential for more.
“We are capable of winning 10 medals in the Asian Games, a feat that will make the athletics the number one sport in the country,” said Haddadi, also a 2011 world bronze medalist and a winner of six golds at the Asian Championships.
The discus throw top-two was Iran’s only athletics achievement in the medals table in Hangzhou, with the 2010 event in Guangzhou, where Iran collected double golds and three silvers, remaining the most successful campaign in the recent history of the Games for the country.
The 1974 edition on home soil was the most prolific campaign for Iran with eight medals, including three golds.