Iranian teams discover Asian Games opponents
Iranian national teams learned their opponents for the upcoming Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games after the draw ceremony for several team sports was held on Thursday.
The 20th edition of the continental multi-sport event will open at Paloma Mizuho Stadium in Nagoya, Japan, on September 19.
In the men’s volleyball tournament, which will feature 16 teams, Iran will begin its bid for a fourth successive gold medal in Pool B against Indonesia, Thailand, and Kyrgyzstan from September 27.
With the men’s competition kicking off only two weeks after the conclusion of the Asian Championship – where the continent’s lone berth at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics will also be at stake – Iran and fellow Asian powerhouse Japan may opt to field second-string squads for the Games.
Tough football fate
New Iran U23 head coach Hossein Abdi will face a daunting task in his debut campaign after his team was drawn in a tough Group B alongside China, North Korea, and the United Arab Emirates.
China will look to build on its impressive runner-up finish at the U23 Asian Cup in January, while North Korea will also fancy its chances as a traditional heavyweight in Asian age-group football.
The UAE may attract less attention than China or North Korea, but its significant progress in academy development and talent identification programs in recent years cannot be overlooked, and it could well emerge as one of the teams capable of upsetting the balance in the group.
The runner-up in the group could face overwhelming favorite Japan in the first knockout round.
The 16-team men’s football tournament will get underway on September 14.
A difficult group stage also awaits Iran’s men’s handball team.
Also under a new head coach, Croatian Nenad Kljaić, Iran has been pitted against reigning Asian champion Bahrain, Kuwait – bronze medalist at January’s Asian Championship – record nine-time continental champion South Korea, and Kazakhstan in Group B.
The handball tournament will begin on September 20, with Qatar, Japan, China, and Hong Kong making up Group A.
Kabaddi hopefuls
Iran’s men’s and women’s teams will be among the favorites, alongside India and Chinese Taipei, in the kabaddi competition, having collected three medals between them over the past two editions, including a clean sweep of the men’s and women’s gold medals in 2018.
Beaten by India in the 2022 final, Iran is in Group B of the men’s tournament alongside Nepal, Thailand, Pakistan, and Malaysia. India, Japan, Chinese Taipei, South Korea, and Bangladesh are in Group A.
Iran’s women’s team, which was unfortunate to miss out on the podium at Hangzhou 2022 after losing to Nepal in the bronze-medal match, has been drawn against Japan, Bangladesh, and India in Group A, with Sri Lanka, Thailand, Chinese Taipei, and Nepal in Group B.
The kabaddi competition will begin on September 21.
In the men’s water polo tournament, Iran will open its campaign in Group B against 2022 silver medalist China, Singapore, and South Korea from September 26 at Nippon Gaishi Hall.
Iran won bronze – its first medal since claiming gold on home soil in 1974 – in 2018, but lost to Kazakhstan in a shootout in the bronze-medal match at Hangzhou 2022.
Kazakhstan, Japan, Thailand, and Hong Kong make up the other group in the eight-team competition.
Named “Angels of Minab” in memory of the 168 victims, including 120 schoolchildren, killed in a U.S.-Israeli airstrike on Shajareh Tayyebeh Elementary School in Minab, southern Iran, on February 28, the Iranian delegation will comprise 214 male and 94 female athletes competing across 36 sports at this year’s Asian Games.
Reigning world karate champion Atousa Golshadnejad and men’s national kabaddi captain Fazel Atrachali have been named Iran’s flag bearers for the opening ceremony.
At Hangzhou 2022, Iran fielded 289 athletes and finished seventh in the medal standings with 13 gold, 21 silver, and 20 bronze medals—its lowest placing in the past five editions of the Games.
Iran’s most successful Asian Games campaign came in Tehran in 1974, where it won a record 81 medals, including an all-time high of 36 golds, to finish second behind Japan in the overall standings.
In more recent editions, Iran’s best performance came at Guangzhou 2010, where it finished fourth with a haul of 20 gold, 15 silver, and 24 bronze medals.