Iran confirms gymnastics squad for Asian Championships
Iran has named its five-man squad for the upcoming AGU Asian Artistic Gymnastics Championships, which will kick off on June 18 in Zunyi, China.
Mahdi Olfati – winner of a historic Asian gold last year – will headline the Iranian roster in Zunyi. He will be joined by Mahdi Ahmadkohani, Hooman Jafari, Amirabbas Mojahed, and Mohammad Khosrownejad, who secured their spots through trials in the national team camp, to represent the country in six categories.
A finalist at the Paris 2024 Olympics, Olfati scored 14.500 points in the men’s vault final in Jecheon, South Korea, to claim the country’s first gold in 12 editions of the competition – a feat recognized as “one of the sport’s 10 biggest stories” of 2025 by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG).
Ahmadkohani, meanwhile, will be looking for a strong return to the international stage after serving a 24-month suspension imposed by the International Testing Agency (ITA).
The ban, which expired on February 21, was imposed after the Iranian – a two-time rings silver medalist in the 2023 FIG World Cup series – accrued three whereabouts failures within a 12-month period. He has ruled out any wrongdoing, insisting he “had not entered the necessary information on the anti-doping website regarding my residence and training location, which led to my suspension.”
The showpiece in Zunyi will also serves as the qualification path for the gymnastics event at the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Games in September.
“Previously, all countries could participate in the Asian Games without restrictions. However, a decision by the Asian Gymnastics Union means only the top 10 teams on the continent will earn berths for the multi-sport event – a change that has doubled the significance of precise planning and preparation for the Asian Championships,” Iran’s men’s head coach Reza Kheirkhah told IRNA in April.