Zandi leads taekwondo squads into Chuncheon double-header
Iran’s men’s and women’s taekwondo teams departed for Chuncheon on Friday ahead of two major events in the South Korean city.
The three-day WT World Cup Team Championships will begin on Tuesday, followed by the Korea Open G1 tournament.
Reigning world and Asian champion Abolfazl Zandi headlines Iran’s star-studded men’s squad, which also features Olympic silver medalist Mehran Barkhordari, Asian champions Mahdi Hajimousaei and Amirsina Bakhtiari, Asian bronze medalist Amirreza Sadeqian, and Mohammad Hossein Yazdani.
Payam Khanlarkhani will make his debut as Iran’s head coach after replacing interim boss Amir Tajik, who guided the team to a runner-up finish behind South Korea at the Asian Championships in Ulaanbaatar in May.
In the women’s competition, Iran will be represented by Yalda Valinejad, who arrives fresh off a bronze-medal finish at the Asian Championships, while 20-year-old prospect Hasti Mohammadi will look to build on her breakthrough campaign at last year’s Islamic Solidarity Games, where she claimed bronze on her senior international debut.
Baran Nemati and Fereshteh Ahmadi, meanwhile, will be eager to bounce back after missing out on the podium at the Asian Championships.
Head coach Mahrouz Saei recently said the two tournaments in Chuncheon would play a decisive role in finalizing Iran’s women’s squad for the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Games in September.