In an interview with IRNA on the sidelines of the Ardabil Karate Board’s election assembly on Wednesday, Vahid Momeni added: “Of this number of organized athletes, about 90,000 are men and 60,000 are women.”
He said that more than a thousand clubs in the country are active in the sport of karate, adding that these clubs are run privately, semi-privately and publicly.
He stated: Iran is one of the important centers of karate in the world, so that now Iranian karate is the runner-up in Asia and the world.
He considered the unregulated awarding of belts and donations in the sport of karate as one of the concerns of the federation and said: to solve this problem, the federation has designed a system to award belts and donations to athletes with discipline and transparency.
He sent our country’s adult karatekas to Cyprus, the Asian Championships in Uzbekistan, the Islamic Games in Turkey, the World Championships in the United States, the Asian Games in China, the World League competitions and the sending of our karatekas in the junior, youth and hope categories. He mentioned Turkey at the World Championships as one of the programs of the Karate Federation in 1401.
The secretary of the Karate Federation mentioned talent development as one of the main problems in the sport of karate and said: “Discovering talent and cultivating it to become a champion and achieve the desired goals is weak in the country.”
Referring to the capacities and potentials of Ardabil province, Momeni added: “With unity, empathy and proper management, and with the provision of the necessary infrastructure and support for athletes, Ardabil province will have a lot to say in the field of karate in the near future.” The real will arrive in the country.
According to IRNA, in this election assembly, Iraj Ataei was elected as the new chairman of the Ardabil Karate Board for four years by winning 15 votes out of a total of 29 votes.