Seyed Abbas Ahmadpanahi In an interview with IRNA on Sunday, he criticized the Karate Federation for not paying attention to styles and associations, saying: “Federation officials say that styles are our arms, but I think styles are only the material arms of the federation.” In fact, they are a source of income to deposit money in the federation’s account and they are not used optimally. Sometimes their activities are hindered and their programs interfere with the competitions and programs of the federation.
He continued by stating that the styles and associations will be closed soon with these conditions: the federation has been holding karate for some time now after receiving the entrance. The question is, if karate is held, what is the solution to motivate athletes? It is better for the officials to say the outcome of these competitions as well. Will the top players enter the national team or be selected, or is there just a match?
Panahi stated: Recently, the planning of the national championship has been done and it is in the seasons that the players are not involved in the lesson. When competitions are held in this way, when do other styles have their own competitions? Can an athlete pay for lightweight competitions and be able to pay again? When we issue a championship order, we have to pay for the federation to sign and the president to sign. In fact, styles have no share in revenue and only have to spend.
He said: “My suggestion is to hold a number of karatekas in styles that can be held.” Finally, invite the first and second members to be selected by the national teams. These issues motivate the player to know that style activity also works for him.
The former president of the Karate Federation added: “If the federation does not want to change its method, there will be nothing left of the styles.” If it is not light, there will be no karate. Now in these difficult economic conditions, coaches, referees, athletes and the whole karate community have to register in the system and pay, it is better to help the big family in this field and not be the only source of income. Ask ourselves, what have we done for them to get money?
Panahi clarified: in order to renew the coaching card, a retraining class must be held by the federation and the coaches must participate in it. While technical issues should be raised by the style or the referee class license that the styles give, the highest costs such as teacher fees, hotel, etc. are borne by the style and the highest income for the federation which is not a good process.
The president of the Shitorio Hayashi Association of Iran said: “They do not even value the styles and associations so much that they put the signature of the person in charge of the style on the rulings along with the president of the federation.” While outside Iran and in any style, the representative of that style is known.
He added: “Why are the styles not in the assembly of the Karate Federation?” The boards should be, but along with them the representatives of the styles should also have the right to vote. Like the Athletes and Referees Commission, internal elections must be held in the constituencies and several of their representatives must be present in the assembly. All heads of delegations work in the same style. I hope they think more fundamentally, because this way, the styles will soon face major challenges.
“What motivation remains to work,” Panahi said. A style builds a force from scratch and delivers it to the federation and the national team, but the federation does nothing for the styles.
In the end, he said: “Be sure that creating motivation and interaction is in the interest of the country’s karate, because we are all on the same path and we must help each other.”