Iranian weightlifters lined up for world event, Islamic Solidarity Games
Iran head coach Behdad Salimi named a 14-man weightlifting squad ahead of preparations for this year’s IWF World Championship and Islamic Solidarity Games.
The world event will be staged in Førde, Norway, from October 1-10, followed by the sixth edition of the Islamic Solidarity Games, which will kick off on November 7 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Former Olympic silver medalist Ali Davoudi headlines the list and is joined by Ayat Sharifi in the superheavyweight category.
Iranian prodigy Alireza Yousefi, who beat Davoudi to the world clean & jerk title last year, missed the call-up as he has yet to recover from knee surgery.
Alireza Nasiri, Abolfazl Zare’, Amirhossein Sepah, and Iliya Salehipour received a seniors’ callout after they bagged 10 medals – including four golds – between them to lead the country to the men’s junior crown at the IWF World Youth & Junior Championships in Lima, Peru, last week.
Alireza Moeini and Ali A’alipour will also be aiming high at the World Championships, following their medal-winning 96kg campaign at the competition in Manama last December.
Also on the list are 2023 Asian champion Hossein Soltani, Mahdi Karami, Reza Hassanpour, four-time world medalist Reza Dehdar, Abdollah Beiranvand, and Asian junior gold medalist Mehrab Davasari.
A superheavyweight gold medalist at London 2012 Olympics and a winner of four world titles, new coach Salimi took over from Navvab Nasir-Shalal in January.
Nasir-Shalal led his team to a runner-up finish behind China in December’s world event in Manama, Bahrain, though his squad managed to win a single gold across 10 weight classes through Yousefi.