Iran eyes multiple taekwondo golds at Asian Games: Saei
Iran will be targeting "not just one, but multiple gold medals" in taekwondo at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games in September, according to Iranian Taekwondo Federation president Hadi Saei.
The country's men's and women's national teams began preparations in Tehran on Tuesday, with Iran seeking its first taekwondo gold medals at the continental showpiece since the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, where Mirhashem Hosseini and Saeid Rajabi topped the podium in their respective men's weight classes.
"The Asian Games are our foremost target moving forward. It is an event of tremendous importance not only for us, but for the entire sporting community in the country," Saei said during the opening session of the men's training camp.
"The Ministry of Sport and the National Olympic Committee are counting heavily on taekwondo medals – particularly gold medals – and we share those expectations. We must win gold at these Games. In fact, our expectation is not just one gold medal, but multiple gold medals."
Saei, Iran's most decorated Olympian with two gold medals and one bronze, also reflected on the country's performance at the previous Asian Games.
"At the previous edition, we had three athletes reach the finals and felt we deserved to win gold medals. Unfortunately, a series of incidents and what we believed was flawed refereeing by the host nation prevented us from achieving that goal," he said.
Iran won three silver and two bronze medals in the men's competition at Hangzhou 2022, while the women's team collected two bronze medals in the kyorugi events and saw Marjan Salahshouri finish third in the women's poomsae competition.
"Taekwondo medals will have a significant impact on Iran's position in the overall medal standings at the Asian Games," Saei said.
"In addition to South Korea, our main rivals include Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and several other countries competing with Iran in the medal table. That is why taekwondo gold medals carry added importance. Success in this sport could play a decisive role in improving Iran's final ranking at the Games."
With Payam Khanlarkhani at the helm as head coach, the Iranian men's squad features Olympic champion Arian Salimi and Olympic silver medalist Mehran Barkhordari, who won gold and silver respectively at the Paris Olympics, alongside reigning world and Asian champion Abolfazl Zandi.
The training camp also includes Mahdi Hajimousaei and Amirsina Bakhtiari, who captured Asian titles last month, as well as Asian silver medalist Yassin Valizadeh, Asian bronze medalist Amirreza Sadeqian, Mohammadhossein Yazdani, Amirabbas Rahnama and Ali Najafi.
While Zandi (-58kg), Hajimousaei (-68kg) and Salimi (+80kg) have already secured their places at the Asian Games, the men's -80kg berth remains up for grabs in a four-way contest in the coming days.
Olympic silver medalist Nahid Kiani, fresh from winning Asian gold in May, headlines the Iranian women's squad, which also includes Asian bronze medalist Yalda Valinejad, Rozhan Goudarzi, Saina Karimi, Hasti Mohammadi, Saghar Moradi, Fereshteh Fathi, Baran Nemati, Fatemeh Amadi and reigning two-time world junior champion Hana Zarrinkamar.
Iran's women's selection trials for the Asian Games will take place on Saturday.