According to IRNA, the escorting ceremony of the Ezzat, Etihad and Iftikhar caravan was held today (Thursday) at the tomb of the unknown martyrs of the Ministry of Sports and Youth, with the presence of our country’s national karate athletes.
In the continuation of this ceremony, the national athletes sent to the competitions attended the Farsi master’s hall of the National Olympic Academy, and the see-off ceremony was held with the presence of members of the karate family, directors of the Ministry of Sports and the National Olympic Committee.
The Iranian karate convoy named “Ezzat, Etihad, Iftikhar” is participating in the 12th World Karate Championships for the age groups of teenagers, young adults and under 21 years old. There are nearly 60 athletes, coaches and referees in this convoy.
The 12th age group karate tournament of the world championship will be held in Konya, Turkey, from November 4 to 8.
In today’s ceremony, Seyyed Manaf Hashemi, Secretary General of the National Olympic Committee, Seyed Hasan Tabatabai, President of the Karate Federation, Esmaili Ahmadi, Director General of the Directorate of the Ministry of Sports and Youth, Mohsen Ashuri, Acting Vice President, and Vahid Momeni, Secretary of the Federation, were present.
At the beginning of the ceremony, Tabatabaei, the president of the federation, said: Many coaches throughout the country worked hard and sweated so that today we can be at the service of the essence of their efforts to send them to the world championships. After football, karate has the largest organized population in the men’s section and the largest population in the women’s section. I have not seen such a concentration of athletes and coaches in any discipline, and 35 countries are benefiting from Iran’s karate capacity.
He added: “We won the most medals in the last round of the Asian Championship in the presence of Japan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan and became the overall champion of the tournament.” In the Olympics, we were one of three federations that won a gold medal, and we were one of 8 countries in the world that won a gold medal in karate, and this is due to the efforts of all the coaches and the karate community. About 70 Iranian athletes, referees and coaches in the boys and girls kata division and committee will participate in the World Championship in Konya, Turkey, and we will immediately participate in the Asian Championship on December 25, and after that we must prepare for the Asian Games, which is always karate. It has made an important contribution to the country’s medal winning portfolio.
The president of the Karate Federation stated: All the children present at this ceremony have the capacity to win gold medals and stand on the top of the world, and I hope this will happen with everyone’s prayers.
Seyedmanaf Hashemi, the secretary general of the National Olympic Committee, also said in this ceremony: I am happy to be at the see-off ceremony of the karate champions and to thank the board of directors and the president of the karate federation. I am glad that the memorial of Kazemi Shahid is present in this ceremony and we all believe that they are the true heroes of our martyrs.
He continued: Karate has raised expectations and I am proud of you as the Secretary General of the Olympic Committee and I hope we will see the brilliance of Karate in the Hangzhou Asian Games. We know about the pressure on your shoulders and the competition with 108 countries in the world, and we wish you success.
At the end of this ceremony, the son of Sardar Shahid Ahmad Kazemi was honored.