“Mohsen Ashouri” In an interview with IRNA on Wednesday, he said that the postponement of the Asian Games was a big and annoying shock for the karate community, adding that the federation officials, the technical staff and especially the athletes were really annoyed. It took four years to plan, and the athletes struggled to prepare for the Asian Games.
“This event is very important for everyone, including the Ministry of Sports, the National Olympic Committee, the media and the entire sports community, and it is even more important than the world championships,” he said. The Asian Games are especially important for Iran and Japan, which are world karate powers.
“The karatekas are now in the army, but they are in shock, and of course we will get through this crisis over time,” Assyri said.
Regarding the progress of Iranian karate competitions, he explained: World Games will be held in the United States in mid-July, in which Iranian karatekas will participate. In the previous round, which was in Poland, we had five participants, all of whom became finalists, and Zabihullah Pourshib also won gold, which we hope will win more colorful medals in the United States. The Asian Championship will be held in Uzbekistan in August, and our goal is to have a strong presence in this event so that good results can be achieved again.
The acting vice-president of the Karate Federation continued: “After that, we have Islamic countries in front of us.” Because of these three events, our camps will continue as before, and programs in both men and women will be pursued vigorously.
“We know that postponing the Asian Games will create problems for the federation, which must be managed in order to provide good conditions for the national teams,” Assyri said. Of course, the psychological issues of the players are also important, and we must work on this issue so that the campers do not get out of the right situation.
“We will not allow the slightest disruption to the plans and we will fulfill all our commitments,” he said.
The 19th edition of the Asian Games, scheduled to be hosted by Hangzhou from September 10th to 25th (September 19th to September 3rd), has been postponed and a new date will be announced soon.