IWF World Championships:
Head coach Salimi confident as Iran aims to end title drought
Iran weightlifting head coach Behdad Salimi backed his young squad to end the country’s team title drought at the upcoming IWF World Championships – starting Thursday in Forde, Norway.
Former world and Olympic champion Salimi was part of the team when Iran last won the men’s team trophy at the flagship international event in 2017.
Iran will be represented by eight weightlifters in Forde, with Abdollah Beiranvand – an Asian snatch silver winner last year – the first in action, competing in the 79kg Group B contests on Monday.
“We’re in our final days of training, and I just hope the team can have a decent campaign at the world event,” Salimi told reporters after a training session in Tehran on Sunday.
Asked if any member of the team was struggling with an injury, Salimi said: “Weightlifting is a tough sport, and minor injuries are part of it, but, thankfully, there are no serious problems affecting the team in that regard.”
On who are the medal hopefuls in the Iranian squad, Salimi said: “I think we are in a strong position in the heavier weight classes and are hopeful of winning medals, although anything can happen on competition day. I just hope everyone performs in a way that brings the best outcome for us during the event.”
“Weightlifting is a record-driven sport, but making accurate predictions is still very difficult. All eight athletes are giving their best to achieve the best possible results,” added Salimi, who was appointed to the job in January, taking over from Navvab Nasirshalal.
When asked if his team fancies its chances of winning the title in Forde, Salimi said: “As I said, anything can happen in this competition. This team has put in a lot of effort and hard work to finish with the best result.
“The national team is going through a renewal and shakeup phase, with most of the squad made up of young athletes, who are eligible for the youth age group. However, I’m still confident they will all shine in this major senior event.”
Former Olympic silver winner Ali Davoudi, who collected triple world medals last year, will headline the Iranian squad in Forde, chasing glory at the +110kg contest.
Joining Davoudi in the superheavyweight class is Ayat Sharifi, who will compete fresh off a double-gold-winning campaign at the Asian Championships in May.
Alireza Mo’eini and Ali A’alipour will be the Iranian contestants in the 94kg division, looking to build on an impressive run at major events over the past nine months.
The Iranian duo won three world medals between them last December, before collecting five medals – including triple golds – at the Asian event.
The 94kg event will be among the highly-anticipated ones in the Norwegian city, with three Olympic gold medalists in Qatar’s Fares Elbakh, Bulgaria’s Karlos Nasar, and Iranian Kianoush Rostami, who will represent Kosovo, all in the mix.
Iran will also be represented by two weightlifters at the 110kg category.
Alireza Nasiri will be the Iranian to watch in the division, after the young prodigy made a clean sweep of three world junior golds in April.
Abolfazl Zare’ will step onto the platform in the Group B contest on the back of a snatch gold and double silvers at this year’s World Junior Championships.
Uzbek duo Akbar Djuraev and Ruslan Nurudinov, winners of three Olympic medals between them, will be the favorites in the 110kg class, having registered the highest entry record (420kg) alongside Armenia’s Simon Martirosyan and Garik Karapetyan.
Illiya Salehipour, who three Asian junior medals last year, will compete in the 88kg event.
Making his coaching debut at the World Championships, Salimi will hope to see his squad improve on last year’s edition, where the country collected 10 medals but managed only a single gold through Alireza Yousefi – who will miss this year’s event with a knee injury – in the superheavyweight clean & jerk contest.