Ex-world silver winner Tajik replaces Aflaki as Iran’s taekwondo coach
Ali Tajik has been appointed as the head coach of the Iranian men’s national taekwondo team.
A world silver medalist in 2005, Tajik takes over from Majid Aflaki, under whom Tajik worked as the number two in the coaching staff.
A former coach of the Oman men’s team for seven years, Tajik will be tasked with steering Iran’s campaign at the upcoming Asian Championships – which will kick off in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, on May 19 – followed by the Aichi–Nagoya Asian Games in September.
The appointment ends speculation over the future of the Iranian job after Aflaki refused to attend the team’s training camp in recent weeks over a reported falling out with the national governing body.
Aflaki had been in charge of the national team since 2023 and spearheaded Iranian men’s glorious campaigns on the global and continental stage over the past three years.
The former coach led Iran to its first team title in eight years at the Asian Championships in 2024 in Da Nang, Vietnam, but the highlight of his tenure came at the Paris Olympics later that year, where both Iranian male contestants won medals.
Arian Salimi ended Iran’s wait for a first Olympic taekwondo gold since Hadi Saei’s 2008 triumph by beating Britain’s Caden Cunningham in the +80kg final, while Mehran Barkhordari settled for silver in the 80kg class after a final defeat against Firas Katoussi of Tunisia.
At last October’s World Championships in Wuxi, China, Aflaki’s squad collected three medals through Abolfazl Zandi (gold), Mahdi Haji-Mousaei (silver), and Amirsina Bakhtiari (bronze) to finish as runners-up behind South Korea in the men’s team standings.