Iranian fencers to take a shot at Olympic history
By Amirhadi
Arsalanpour
Staff writer
Iranian saber team will be hoping to round off years of progress by grabbing a first-ever Olympic medal when the sporting extravaganza gets underway in Paris in less than three weeks’ time.
“Iranian fencing has been craving for Olympic glory for 12 years. I think the Games owe us a medal,” said the Iranian head coach Payman Fakhri, whose team will be represented by Ali Pakdaman, Mohammad Rahbari, Mohammad Fotouhi, and Farzad Baher in the French capital’s Grand Palais on July 31.
“I don’t know if it is written in the stars for the Iranian team, but I’m sure this group of fencers have reached the maturity to win an Olympic medal,” added Fakhri, who took charge of the national team for a second spell in June.
His men made it to the team saber final at the Asian Championships in Kuwait but came short against fencing powerhouse South Korea, which featured two members of the Tokyo Olympic gold-winning team in Oh Sanguk and Gu Bongil.
Iranian captain Pakdaman, meanwhile, is also set to be a part of the individual contests in Paris through the FIE ranking.
“We’ve enjoyed all sorts of success in recent years,” Pakdaman said in a training session attended by Iranian Sports Minister Kioumars Hashemi on Saturday.
“We’ve exceled at different Fencing World Cup events. We came out on top against Italy in its own backyard in 2019. We’ve beaten Hungary. Iran has truly become a household name in the sport and the Olympic medal is the only piece of glory eluding the country. The Paris Olympics could be a turning point for Iranian fencing,” added the world number five in the Olympic qualification ranking.
Iran came closest to the Olympic podium in Rio 2016, where Mojtaba Abedini suffered a last-four heartbreak against American Daryl Homer before falling to a loss to prominent South Korean Kim Jung-hwan in the battle for bronze.
The campaign in Tokyo, however, was one to forget for Iran as Abedini and Rahbari were knocked out in the round of 16 and Pakdaman was beaten by eventual gold winner Áron Szilágyi of Hungary in the quarterfinals, while the country failed to go beyond the last-eight round after a narrow defeat against Italy.
“We’ve surely learned from our mistakes in the previous Olympics. Refereeing decisions cost us against Italy and we were unlucky to lose 45-44. We’ll have to make sure it won’t happen this time around. The team started preparing for the Games right after the event in Tokyo, taking part in numerous international competitions, and I just hope all the hard work pays off in Paris,” said Rahbari, an individual bronze medalist in Kuwait as well as last year’s Asian Games.