Related article: The other Iran | Overview: Iran at the 2016 Rio Paralympics

The XXXI Summer Olympics were held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2016. Iran sent a delegation of 64 athletes that competed in 15 disciplines (Archery, Athletics, Boxing, Canoeing, Cycling, Fencing, Judo, Rowing, Shooting, Swimming, Table Tennis, Taekwondo, Volleyball Weightlifting and Wrestling). They won a total of eight medals (three gold, one silver and four bronze) and broke 2 olympic and world records.

To read articles about their “Road to Rio”: The other Iran | Olympic Games

MEDAL COUNT (25th place with 7 medals: three gold, one silver and four bronze medals)

Gold – Weightlifting – Men’s 94kg: Sohrab Moradi

Gold – Weightlifting – Men’s 85kg: Kianoush Rostami

Gold – Wrestling – MFS 74kg: Hassan Aliazam Yazdanicharati (Hassan Yazdani Cherati)

Silver – Wrestling – Men’s Freestyle 125kg: Komeil Nemat Ghasemi

Bronze – Wrestling – Men’s Greco-Roman 75 kg: Saeid Morad Abdevali

Bronze – Taekwondo – Women’s -57kg: Kimia Alizadeh Zenoorin

Bronze – Wrestling – Men’s Freesytle 57kg: Hassan Sabzali Rahimi

Bronze – Wrestling – Men’s Greco-Roman 98 kg: Ghasem Gholamreza Rezaei

RECORDS & REMARKABLE FACTS

Olympic and World Record: Kianoush Rostami (Weightlifting Men’s 85kg) – Total: 396kg

Olympic and World Record: Behdad Salimi (Weightlifting Men’s +105kg) – Snatch: 216kg

First Iranian woman to win an olympic medal: Kimia Alizadeh Zenoorin (Taekwondo W57kg)

First Iranian athlete to compete in the Olympics and Paralympics: Zahra Nemati (Archery)

SCROLL DOWN for PHOTOS, BIO and RESULTS of IRANIAN ATHLETES in RIO 2016

ARCHERY

Zahra Nemati (born 1985 in Kerman) is an Iranian Paralympic and Olympic archer. She has qualified to compete at both the 2016 Summer Olympics and the 2016 Summer Paralympics. She won her Olympic place with a superb performance at the 2015 Asian Archery Championships, where she won silver.

Read about Zahra Nemati: The other Iran | Rio 2016: Zahra Nemati – Iranian archer

Rio Olympics 2016: Nemati competed in the Women’s Individual event. In the ‘1 of 32 round’, she lost against Russian archer Inna Stepanova 2 : 6. Out of four, she won only one of three really narrow sets: 1st) 21 : 28 (2pts Stepanova); 2nd) (2pts Nemati) 28 : 27; 3rd) 26 : 28 (2pts Stepanova), 4th) 26 : 27 (2pts Stepanova), thus she did not advance to the ‘1 of 16 round’. She finished in place 33 to 64. She is the first Iranian athlete to compete in the Olympics and the Paralympics.

ATHLETICS: Track and road

Reza Ghasemi (born 1987 in Isfahan) is an Iranian sprinter. He won bronze at the 2015 Asian Athletics Championships in 100m, at the Asian Indoor Championships he won gold (2012), silver (2016, 2010) and bronze (2014) in 60m, as well as silver in 4x400m relay at the 2016 Asian Indoor Championships. He represented Iran at the 2012 Summer Olympics. His personal bests are 10.12s (100m, +0.4 wind), 20.68s (200m, +0.4 wind) outdoor in 2015 and 6.58s (60m) indoor in 2014.

Mohammad Jafar Moradi (born 1990 in Kermanshah) is an Iranian long distance runner, who specialises in marathon. He competed in the marathon event at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics. His best record in this discipline is 2:17:41 (Dubai, 2015).

Hassan Taftian (born 1993 in Torbat-e Heydarieh, Razavi Khorasan) is an Iranian sprinter and Iran’s national record holder in 100m and 60m. He won gold at the 2016 Asian Indoor Championships. His personal bests are 10.04s (100m, +1.0 wind) in 2016, 20.82s (200m, -0.7 wind) outdoor in 2015 and 6.56s (60m) indoor in 2016.

Hamidreza Zooravand (born 1990 in Hamadan) is an Iranian track and field athlete. His personal best marks are 40:38 (10km race walk) and 1:22.52 (20km race walk) in 2016.

Rio Olympics 2016: Reza Ghasemi competed in the Men’s 100m event. In Round 1, he run 100m in 10.47s. As he finished last in his heat, he did not qualify to the next stage. In the final standings, he ranked 58th (out of 70 athletes).

Mohammad Jafar Moradi (Mohammadjafar Moradi) competed in the Men’s Marathon event. He finished in 2:31:58, ranking 129th out of 155 athletes. Details after: 5km rank 55 / 10km rank 68 / 15km rank 38 / 20km rank 62 / 25km rank 69 / 30km rank 96 / 35km rank 100 / 40km rank 111.

Hassan Taftian competed in the Men’s 100m event. In Round 1, he run 100m in 10.17s. He finished third in his heat, and qualified in 17th place (out of 70 athletes) to the semifinals. There, he finished last in his heat with 10.23s and did not advance to the finals. In the overall ranking, he finished in 22nd place. Taftian is the first Iranian that qualified to the 100m semifinals at the Olympic Games.

Hamid Reza Zouravand competed in the Men’s 20km Race Walk. He finished 54th (out of 74 athletes) in 1:27:45 (+8:13 behind the leader).

ATHLETICS: Field events

Mohammad Arzandeh (born 1987 in Borujen, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari) is an Iranian long jumper. He competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics where he was 17th with 7.84m. His personal best mark indoor was at the 2014 Asian Indoor Championships, where he won silver with 7.80 m. His personal best outdoor was set 2012 in Tehran (8.17m). He is the first Iranian to jump longer than 8.10m.

Pezhman Ghalenoei (born 1992 in Kordkuy, Golestan) is an Iranian hammer thrower. His personal bests are: 77.18m, 69.61m (6kg) and 63.68m (5kg).

Ehsan Haddadi (born 1985 in Tehran) is an Iranian discus thrower (personal best in discus throw 69.32m in 2008 and in discus throw (1.750kg) 62.24m in 2004).

He won gold at the 2004 World Junior Championships in Grosseto, becoming the first Iranian to win a medal at any global athletics competition. In 2011 Haddadi became the first Iranian athlete to win a medal (bronze) at a IAAF World Championships in Athletics. At the 2012 Summer Olympics he won silver with a 68.18m throw. Haddadi offered his silver medal to children with cancer, and travelled to Azerbaijan to gather funds for the 2012 earthquakes’ victims.

Kaveh Sadegh Mousavi (born 1985 in Urmia, West Azerbaijan Province) is an Iranian hammer thrower. He competed at the 2012 Olympics in London, where he finished in place 22nd with a throw of 72.70m. In July 2016 he broke Iran’s record in hammer throw (77.40m).

Leila Rajabi, maiden name: Tatsiana Ilyushchanka, (born 1983 in Vitebsk, Belarus) is a Naturalized Iranian shot putter of Belarusian origin. She acquired Iranian citizenship after she married Iranian athlete Peiman Rajabi and decided to represent Iran. Rajabi broke Iran national record in shot put and is currently the record holder. She won silver at the 2014 Asian Games and at the Asian Championships silver (2013) and bronze (2009, 2011). Her personal bests are 18.18m outdoor and 18.01m indoor.

Mahmoud Samimi (born 1988 in Shahr-e Kord, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari) is an Iranian discus thrower. He won a bronze medal (59.78m) at the 2015 Asian Championships. His personal best is 65.00m achieved in April 2016 in Szombathely, Hungary.

Rio Olympics 2016: Mohammad Arzandeh competed in the Men’s Long Jump event. In the qualifying round he finished 29th (out of 32 athletes) with 7.31m (+0.5 wind) and did not advance to the semifinals.

Pezhman Ghalenhnoei and Kaveh Mousavi competed in the Men’s Hammer Throw event. In the qualifying round, out of 32 athletes, Ghalenhnoei finished 28th with 69.15m and Mousavi finished in 29th place with 65.03m. They did not advance to the next stage.

Ehsan Hadadi and Mahmoud Samimi competed in the Men’s Discus Throw event. In the qualifying round, out of 35 athletes, Hadadi finished 24th with 60.15m and Samimi finished in 30th place with 56.94m. They did not advance to the next stage.

Leila Rajabi competed in the Women’s Shot Put event. In the qualifying round she finished 32nd (out of 36 athletes) with 16.34m and did not advance to the next round.

BOXING

Ehsan Rouzbahani (born 1988 in Borujerd, Lorestan) is an Iranian professional boxer who competed at the 2012 Olympics in light heavy weight. In 2015 he won the AIBA Pro Boxing (APB) Light heavyweight (81 kg) world title match against number one seed and Commonwealth Games silver medalist Kennedy St Pierre. In the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea he won the bronze medal. He also won bronze in the Asian Championships in 2013.

Rio Olympics 2016: Rouzbahani competed in the Men’s Light Heavy (81kg) event. In the ‘1 of 32 round’, he lost to Dutch boxer Peter Mullenberg 0 : 3. Totals after three rounds: Judge A 28:29, Judge B 28:29, Judge C 28:29. Rouzbahani did not advance to the ‘1 of 16 round’.



CANOEING: Sprint

Adel Mojallali Moghadam (born 1993 in Bandar Torkaman, Golestan). He won gold in Canoe Single 5000m at the Asian Canoe Sprint Championships in 2011 and 2013 and bronze in 2013 in Canoe Single 1000m. He won bronze at the 2014 Asian Games in Canoe Single 200m. He is the first Iranian athlete to participate in Canoeing events at the Olympics.

Rio Olympics 2016: Adel Mojallali competed in the Men’s Canoe Single 200m event. In the first round, he finished 4th in his heat with 41.650s and 15th in the overall ranking. He qualified to semifinals, where he finished 5th in his heat with 42.386s. Mojallali was only 0.103s behind 4th placed Marcos Pulidor Rodríguez from Mexico, who qualified to Final B. He achieved place 17th (out of 21 athletes that qualified to semifinals).

CYCLING

Ghader Mizbani Iranagh (born 1975 in Tabriz, East Azerbaijan Province) is an Iranian professional road bicycle racer since 2002 from Iran. Mizbani Iranagh is twice champion of the UCI Asia Tour (2005–2006 and 2008–2009 and the 2006 Iranian national time trial champion, and is currently riding for Tabriz Petrochemical Cycling Team.

Arvin Moazami Goudarzi (born 1990 in Borujerd, Lorestan) is an Iranian cyclist riding for Pishgaman-Giant Team. In 2013 he finished second at the Asian Road Race Championships and in 2014 he won a silver medal in Road Race at the Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea.

Mirsamad Pourseyedi (born 1985 in Tabriz, East Azerbaijan Province) is an Iranian cyclist riding for Tabriz Shahrdari Team. After testing positive to EPO during the Tour of Iran in 2011, he was suspended from May 25th, 2011 to June 29th, 2013. Upon his return to competition, he won the Tour of Qinghai Lake. Mirsamad Pourseyedi is twice champion of the UCI Asia Tour (2013-2014, 2015).

Rio Olympics 2016: All Iranian cyclists competed in the Men’s Road Race event and did not finish. Arvin Moazami Goudarzi also competed in the Men’s Individual Road Time Trial, where he finished 54.5km in 1:21:39.45. His start ranking was 34th (out of 37) and achieved 31st place.

FENCING

Mojtaba Abedini Shourmasti (born 1984 in Tehran) is an Iranian sabre fencer, 15th placed in the FIE Ranking (Aug. 9th, 2016). He qualified to the men’s sabre event of the 2012 Summer Olympics, becoming the first Iranian fencer to compete at the Olympics. At the Asian Championships he won individual medals in 2013 (bronze), 2014 (silver) and 2015 (bronze) and numerous other medals with Iran men’s sabre team: at the 2014 Asian Games silver and at the Asian Fencing Championships in 2015 silver, 2014 bronze, 2013 silver, 2012 bronze and in 2010 bronze. Related article about M. Abedini: The other Iran | Iran sabre team comes 8th in Fencing World Cup, Mojtaba Abedini being Iran’s most successful fencer

Ali Pakdaman (born 1984) is an Iranian sabre fencer, 21st placed in the FIE Ranking (Aug. 9th, 2016). He won bronze at the 2014 Asian Fencing Championships and numerous other medals with Iran men’s sabre team: Silver at the 2014 Asian Games and at the Asian Fencing Championships: 2015 (silver), 2014 (bronze), 2013 (silver), 2012 (bronze).

Rio Olympics 2016: Mojtaba Abedini competed in the Men’s Sabre Individual event. He finished in 4th place (out of 32) after defeating Ukrainian fencer (27th placed FIE ranking, Aug. 9th, 2016) Andriy Yagodka 9 : 15 in the table of 32, South Korean fencer (4th FIE) Bongil Gu 12 : 15 in the table of 16 and French fencer (5th FIE) Vincent Anstett 15 : 13 in the quarterfinals. He lost the semifinal match to US-American fencer (10th FIE) Daryl Homer 14 : 15. Abedini qualified to the Bronze Medal Bout where he lost to South Korean fencer (2nd FIE) Junghwan Kim 15 : 8. The 2016 Olympics helped Abedini achieve 149 ranking pts to climb to 6th place in the FIE ranking (8/13/16).

Ali Pakdaman competed in the Men’s Sabre Individual event. He lost to German fencer Matyas Szabo 11 : 15 in the table of 32 and did not advance to the table of 16. The 2016 Olympics helped Pakdaman achieve 89 ranking points to climb to 19th place in the FIE ranking (Aug. 13th, 2016).



JUDO

Javad Mahjoub (born 1991 in Chenaran, Razavi Khorasan) is an Iranian judoka. He won silver at the World Cup in Baku in 2011 and at the Asian Judo Championships in 2012. In 2013 he was Asian champion and he won the Grand Slam in Moscow. Mahjoub started 2016 well with 1st place at the European Open in Oberwart. He took bronze at the Grand Prix in Düsseldorf, silver in Tbilisi and bronze in Almaty in 2016.

Saeid Mollaei (born 1992 in Tehran) is an Iranian judoka. He won bronze at the Asian Championships in 2015 and 2016, at the Grand Prix in Samsun and Ulaanbaatar in 2015 and at the Euro Open in Minsk and Oberwart (2016). He fought at the World Championships in 2013 and 2015.

Rio Olympics 2016: Javad Mahjoub competed in the Men’s -100kg event. In the 1/32 round, he lost against Belgian judoka Toma Nikiforov 100s1 : 0s2. Both athletes receivde shidos (penalties) for non-combativity. Nikiforov scored an Ippon Seoi-nage. Mahjoub did not advance to the 1/16 round. In the overall ranking he finished in place 17-32 out of 34 athletes.

Saeid Mollaei competed in the Men’s -81kg event. In the 1/32 round, he lost against Russian judoka Khasan Khalmurzaev 0s3 : 0s2. Since it was a tie, the number of shidos (penalties) were decisive. Mollaei received three shidos: false-attack, defensive-posture and disarrange-judogi. Khalmurzaev received two shidos: false-attack and defensive-posture. Mollaei did not advance to the 1/16 round. In the overall ranking he finished in place 17-32 out of 33 athletes.

ROWING

Read about Mahsa Javar: The other Iran |Rio 2016: Mahsa Javar – Iranian rower

Rio Olympics 2016: Mahsa Javar competed in the Women’s Single Sculls event. In the preliminary round, with rough water conditions, she finished in 21st place (out of 32). Time: 8:39.28. The first 18 ranked athletes qualified to the next round. The remaining athletes qualified for the repechage. There, she finished in 9th place (out of 14). Time: 8:06.57. The first six athletes qualified. The remaining eight athletes competed in Semifinal E/F1, where she finished in 4th place (out of 8). Time: 8:45.54. The last two athletes competed in Final F, the first six in Final E, where she finished in 4th place Time: 8:43.34. In the overall ranking she finished in 28th place.

SHOOTING

Elaheh Ahmadi (born May 31st, 1982 in Tehran) is an Iranian sports shooter. In November 2015, the International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF) ranked her first in the world in the 10-meter air rifle women’s division. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, she reached the final in the women’s 10m air rifle and also competed in the 50m rifle 3 positions. She is Iran’s first world-class female shooter and the first woman to win a gold medal (10m air rifle) for Iran at the ISSF World Cup.

Mahlagha Jambozorg (born 1991 in Hamadan) is an Iranian sports shooter. She competed in the Women’s 10m Air Rifle event at the 2012 Summer Olympics. At the 2010 Asian Games she won silver (10m air rifle) and bronze (50 m rifle 3 positions) with Iran’s national team.

Najmeh Khedmati (born 1996 in Birjand, South Khorasan) is an Iranian sports shooter. She won gold (10m air rifle, single) and silver (10m air rifle, team) at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea. At the 2015 ISSF World Cup in Gabala, Azerbaijan she won bronze (10m air rifle).

Pouria Norouzian (born 1992 in Ilam) is an Iranian sports shooter. He finished 4th (10m air rifle) at the 2014 Asian Games.

Golnoush Sebghatollahi, born 1990 in Isfahan, is an Iranian sports shooter. She started practising and competing in 2013. At the 2016 Asian Olympic Shooting Qualifying Tournament in India she achieved her 2016 Summer Olympics berth. In June she obtained good results at the Olympic Games Training Camp in Volmerange-les-Mines, France. She is competing in 10m Air Pistol and 25m Pistol.

Rio Olympics 2016: Elaheh Ahmadi competed in the 10m Air Rifle Women’s event. She finished the qualification round with 417.8pts, making her 3rd (out of 51). In the finals she scored 122.5pts, which placed her in 6th place (overall ranking).

Mahlagha Jambozorg competed in the 50m Rifle 3 Pos. Women’s event. She finished in 27th place (out of 37), scoring 574-28x.

Najmeh Khedmati competed in two shooting events. In the 10m Air Rifle Women’s event she finished in 11th place (out of 51) with 415.7 points. In the 50m Rifle 3 Pos. Women’s event she qualified in 6th place (out of 37 athletes) with 583-27x to the final round, where she scored 402.3 to achieve the 8th place in the overall ranking.

Pourya Norouziyan competed in two shooting events. In the 10m Air Rifle Men’s event he finished in 22nd place (out of 50) with 622.2 points. In the 50m Rifle 3 Pos. Men’s event he finished in 26th place (out of 44), scoring 1168-59x.

Golnoush Sebghatollahi competed in two shooting events. In the Women’s 10m Air Pistol event she finished in 21st place (out of 44) with 379 (13x) points. In the 25m Pistol Women’s event, she finished in 12th place (out of 40) in Precision with 291-8x and in Rapid she scored 281-8x, making it to place 28th in the overall ranking (572-16x).

SWIMMING

Arya Nasimi Shad, born 1999 in Mashhad, Razavi Khorasan, is an Iranian swimmer and the youngest athlete in Iran’s team at the 2016 Rio Olympics. He currently holds Iran men’s 200m breaststroke record (2:18.88). Nasimi Shad won a wild card to Rio Olympics during FINA Open Water Swim World Events 2016 #3 in Balatonfüred, Hungary on June 18, 2016.

Rio Olympics 2016: Nasimi Shad competed in the Men’s 200m Breaststroke event. His goal was to improve Iran’s national men’s 200m breaststroke record (2:18.88 his personal best), but did not succeed (2:20.18).

TABLE TENNIS

Rio 2016 is Nima Alamian’s first appearance at the Olympic Games. Noshad Alamiyan and Neda Shahsavari are participating for the second time. Shahsavari became in London 2012 the first woman to represent Iran in table tennis at the Olympic Games.

Related article: The other Iran | Rio 2016: Iran secured three table tennis spots

Nima Alamian (born 1992 in Babol, Mazandaran) is an Iranian table tennis player. ITTF Ranking: 111th (Aug. 2016).

Noshad Alamiyan (born 1991 in Babol) is an Iranian table tennis player. ITTF Ranking: 98th. Alamian made a breakthrough at 2008 ITTF World Junior Championships by beating junior world no. 1 Kenta Matsudaira; despite being coachless he finished 5th overall. He also won the 2009 Doha Junior Open, as part of the ITTF Junior Circuit. In 2012 he competed in the Summer Olympics.

Neda Shahsavari (born 1986 in Kermanshah) is an Iranian table tennis player. She is the first Iranian woman to qualify in table tennis for the Olympic Games (2012). ITTF Ranking: 282nd.

Rio Olympics 2016: Nima Alamian and Noshad Alamiyan competed in the Men’s Singles event. Nima Alamian won the preliminary round 4 : 1 against Kanak Jha (USA). In Round 1 he lost to Ovidiu Ionescu (Romania) 4 : 1. In Round 1, Noshad Alamiyan lost to Bojan Tokic (Slovenia) 4 : 1. Neda Shahsavari competed in the Women’s Singles event. She lost 4 : 3 to Alexandra Privalova (Belarus). All Iranian table tennis players were eliminated in the first round of the competition.



TAEKWONDO

Kimia Alizadeh Zenoorin (born 1998 in Karaj, Alborz) is an Iranian Taekwondo practitioner. She won a gold medal in the women’s -63kg at the 2014 Youth Olympic Games. She beat London 2012 gold medallist Jade Jones at the 2015 World Taekwondo Championships. She is 15th in the World Taekwondo Federation Ranking with 94.95pts (Aug. 18th, 2016)

Farzan Ashourzadeh Fallah (born 1996 in Tonekabon, Mazandaran) is an Iranian taekwondo practitioner. He won the gold medal in the flyweight division (-58kg) at the 2015 World Taekwondo Championships, at the 2014 Asian Games and at the 2014 Asian Taekwondo Championships. Ashourzadeh also won twice gold and once silver at the 2014 World Taekwondo Grand Prix and once gold, once silver and once bronze at the 2015 World Grand Prix. Ashourzadeh is in 1st place with 411.80 points in the world ranking (Aug. 17th, 2016). Related article: The other Iran | Farzan Ashourzadeh Fallah aka “Tsunami”

Mahdi Khodabakhshi (born 1991 in Eslamshahr, Tehran) is an Iranian taekwondo practitioner. He has been training for more than 15 years. Khodabakhshi won gold in the -80kg division at the 2015 World Taekwondo Championships, at the 2014 Asian Games and at the 2014 Asian Taekwondo Championships. He has defeated several Taekwondo notables such as Aaron Cook and Steven Lopez and is the current world champion. He is ranked 2nd in the welterweight class with 323.4pts (August 18th, 2016).

Sajjad Mardani (born 1988 in Shahrekord, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari) is an Iranian taekwondo practitioner. He won silver at the 2013 World Taekwondo Championships and bronze at the 2012 Asian Taekwondo Championships in the +87kg class. Mardani is 2nd in the World Taekwondo Federation Ranking with 302.63pts (August 19th, 2016).

Rio Olympics 2016: Bronze Kimia Alizadeh Zenoorin competed in the Women’s -57kg event. She defeated Ana Zaninovic (25th (world) with 68.45pts) from Croatia 7:6 in the round of 16 but lost to Eva Calvo Gómez (2nd (world) with 390.05) 7:8 in the quarterfinals. Alizadeh Zenoorin had a chance to qualify to the repechages for the bronze medal match, because E. Calvo Gómez reached the finals (gold medal match). In the repechage she defeated Phannapa Harnsujin (54th (world) with 29.20pts) from Thailand 14:10 and afterwards Nikita Glasnovic (3rd (world) with 286.98pts) from Sweden 5:1 in the bronze medal match to become the first Iranian woman to win a medal at the Olympics.

Farzan Ashour Zadeh Fallah competed in the Men’s -58kg event. Against expectations, he lost 3:4 to Omar Hajjami (43rd (world) with 35.18pts) from Morrocco in the round of 16. He finished in 11th place in the overall ranking.

Mahdi Khodabakhshi competed in the Men’s -80kg event. He defeated 13:1 Miguel Ferrera (28th (world) with 65.86pts) from Honduras in the round of 16 but lost 17:5 to Milad Beigi Harchegani (10th (world) 159.23pts) from Azerbaijan in the quarterfinals. He finished in 9th place in the overall ranking.

Sajjad Mardani competed in the Men’s +80kg event. He defeated 16:1 Pita Nikolas Taufatofua (92nd (world) with 10.80pts) from Tonga in the round of 16 but lost 3:4 to Mahama Cho (6th (world) 194.70pts) from Great Britain in the quarterfinals. He finished in 9th place in the overall ranking.

VOLLEYBALL

Iran men’s volleyball national team achieved 6th place in the 2014 World Champioship, 8th place in the 2015 World Cup, 4th place in the 2013 World Grand Champions Cup, and champions in the 2014 Asian Games in South Korea. Photos and articles about the recent successes of the team are available here: The other Iran | Volleyball

Coach: Raúl Lozano (Argentina)

Team roster:

(1) Shahram Mahmoudi (born 1988 / height 1.98m / 95kg / spike 3.47m / block 3.32m)

(2) Milad Ebadipour (born 1993 / height 1.96m / 78kg / spike 3.50m / block 3.10m)

(4) Saeid Marouf (C) (born 1985 / height 1.89m / 81kg / spike 3.31m / block 3.11m)

(5) Farhad Ghaemi (born 1989 / height 1.97m / 73kg / spike 3.55m / block 3.35m)

(6) Mohammad Mousavi (born 1987 / height 2.03m / 86kg / spike 3.62m / block 3.44m)

(7) Hamzeh Zarini (born 1985 / height 1.98m / 98kg / spike 3.51m / block 3.30m)

(9) Adel Gholami (born 1986 / height 1.95m / 88kg / spike 3.41m / block 3.30m)

(10) Amir Ghafour (born 1991 / height 2.02m / 90kg / spike 3.54m / block 3.34m)

(12) Mojtaba Mirzajanpour (born 1991 / height 2.05m / 88kg / spike 3.55m / block 3.48m)

(13) Mehdi Mahdavi (born 1984 / height 1.91m / 96kg / spike 3.30m / block 3.10m)

(15) Mostafa Sharifat (born 1987 / height 2.04m / 85kg / spike 3.32m / block 3.13m)

(19) Mehdi Marandi (L) (born 1986 / height 1.72m / 69kg / spike 2.95m / block 2.80m)

Rio Olympics 2016: Iran men’s volleyball national team was in the preliminary round in Pool B with Argentina (6th in the FIVB World Ranking, July 2016), Poland (2nd), Russia (3rd), Cuba (17th) and Egypt (20th).

The Iranian squad (10th FIVB Ranking) qualified to the quarterfinals in 4th place with 7 points (defeated Egypt 3:0, Cuba 3:0 and lost to Argentina 3:0, to Poland 3:2 and to Russia 3:0), where it was eliminated 3:0 (31:29, 25:19, 25:17) by Italy, 4th FIVB World Ranking. The Olympic Games in Rio marked the first participation of Iran men’s national volleyball team at the Olympics.

WEIGHTLIFTING

Mohammad Reza Barari (born 1988 in Sari, Mazandaran) is an Iranian weighlifter. He won gold in the 105kg division at the 2016 Asian Weightlifting Championships. He competed at the 2013 World Championships in the 105kg division, winning the bronze medal in Clean and Jerk. Personal bests: 184kg snatch (2016 International Fajr Cup) / 221kg clean & jerk (2013 World Championships) / 404kg total (2016 Int’l Fajr Cup)

Ali Hashemi (born 1991 in Ilam) is an Iranian weightlifter. In his weight category (94kg), he won bronze (2015) and silver (2016) at the Asian Weightlifting Championships. He finished 4th at the World Championships in 2015. Personal bests: 174kg snatch at 2016 Asian Championships / 212kg clean & jerk at 2016 International Fajr Cup / 385kg total at 2016 International Fajr Cup.

Sohrab Moradi (born 1988 in Lenjan, Isfahan) is an Iranian weightlifter. He won bronze (77kg) in 2008 and gold (85kg) in 2009 and 2012 at the Asian Weightlifting Championships.

Personal bests: 180kg snatch / 220kg clean & jerk / 400kg total at 2016 International Fajr Cup.

Kianoush Rostami (born 1991 in Eslamabad-e Gharb, Kermanshah) is an Iranian weightlifter and actual world record holder in Clean and Jerk (221kg) and total (396kg) for the 85kg division. He won silver (2015) and gold (2011, 2014) at the World Weightlifting Championships.

Behdad Salimi Kordasiabi (born 1989 in Ghaemshahr, Mazandaran) is an Iranian weightlifter in the +105 kg category. Salimi held since 2011 the world record in snatch with 214 kg in his weight class. At the 2010 and 2011 World Weightlifting Championships he won the gold medal and at the 2014 World Championships silver. At the 2010 and 2014 Asian Games he won gold again in his weight category. Salimi won Olympic gold in London 2012. Despite a torn ACL, total knee re-construction and over two years out of the game, Behdad Salimi returned to weightlifting in 2016 to compete in the Fajr Cup, held in Tehran, Iran and won gold. He is set to make a weightlifting comeback at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

Rio Olympics 2016: Mohammad Reza Barari competed in the Men’s 105kg event. He lifted 186kg snatch + 220kg clean & jerk = 406kg total to finish in 6th place (out of 17). He improved his best snatch to 186kg and his best total to 406kg.

Ali Hashemi competed in the Men’s 94kg event. He lifted 173kg snatch + 210kg clean & jerk = 383kg total to finish in 7th place (out of 18).

Gold Sohrab Moradi competed in the Men’s 94kg event. He won gold and improved all his personal best marks to 182kg snatch, 221kg clean & jerk and 403kg total.

Gold (OR & WR) Kianoush Rostami competed in the Men’s 85kg event. He won gold and improved his personal best snatch to 179kg. He broke the olympic record and his own world record in total with 396kg.

(OR & WR) Behdad Salimi Kordasiabi competed in the Men’s +105kg event. He set a new olympic and world record in snatch with 216kg but he was not ranked in the final standings as the jury did not accept any of his attempts in clean & jerk. His 2nd clean & jerk attempt (245kg) was first accepted by the judges (all 3 members) but afterwards invalidated by the jury committee. He had to immediately try his 3rd attempt but he did not manage to lift the barbell.



WRESTLING: Freestyle

Hassan Rahimi (born 1989 in Tehran) is an Iranian wrestler. He won gold in Freestyle wrestling at the World Wrestling Championships in 2013 (55kg), silver in 2015 (57kg) and bronze in 2011 (55kg) and 2014 (57kg). In the 55kg class, he won gold at the 2012 Asian Wrestling Championships and bronze in 2009.

Komeil Ghasemi (born 1988 in Sari, Mazandaran) is an Iranian freestyle wrestler. He won silver (125kg) at the 2014 World Wrestling Championships and bronze (120kg) at the 2012 Olympic games in London. Ghasemi won gold (125kg) in 2014, silver (120kg) in 2011 and silver (125kg) again in 2015 at the Asian Wrestling Championships.

Alireza Karimi Machiani (born 1994 in Karaj, Alborz) is an Iranian freestyle wrestler. He won gold (86kg) at the 2015 Asian Wrestling Championships. Karimi Machiani competed at the 2015 World Wrestling Championships in the 86kg class and won most of his matches by a big margin (11:0, 14:7, 10:0, 16:4 – Ibragim Aldatov – and 12:0 – Mihail Ganev) only to lose to future gold medal winner Abdulrashid Sadulev 2:6. He was the only one to win points against Sadulaev at that championship.

Meisam Nassiri (born 1989 in Zanjan) is an Iranian Freestyle wrestler. He won gold in the 65kg class at the 2016 Asian Wrestling Championships. He is the first wrestler from Zanjan Province to participate in the Olympics.

Hassan Yazdani Cherati (born 1994 in Lapu Sahra Village, Mazandaran) is an Iranian Freestyle wrestler. In the 70kg class, he won gold at the 2014 Junior World Wrestling Championships and silver at the 2015 (Senior) World Wrestling Championships.

Reza Yazdani (born 1984 in Juybar, Mazandaran) nicknamed The Leopard of Juybar, is an Iranian freestyle wrestler and two time World Champion. He won gold at the World Wrestling Championships in 2011 and 2013 in the 96kg class. In 2006 and 2007 he won bronze in the 84kg class. He won gold at the Asian Games in 2014 (97kg), 2010 (96kg) and 2006 (84kg). At the Asian Wrestling Championships he won gold in 2010 (96kg) and 2016 (97kg).

Rio Olympics 2016: Bronze Hassan Sabzali Rahimi competed in the Men’s Freestyle 57kg event. He defeated 13:0 (great superiority) Garnik Mnatsakanyan from Armenia in the 1/8 Final and Victor Lebedev from Russia 6:1 in the quarterfinals but lost 5:10 to Rei Higuchi from Japan in the semifinals. In the bronze medal match he defeated Yowlys Bonne Rodríguez from Cuba 9:0 (victory by fall).

Silver Komeil Nemat Ghasemi competed in the Men’s Freestyle 125kg event. He defeated 3:1 (5:2) Jarvis Korey from Canada in the qualification round, 3:0 (7:0) Diaaeldin Kamal Gouda Abdelmottaleb from Egypt in the 1/8 finals, 3:1 (4:4) Geno Petriashvili from Georgia in the 1/4 finals and 4:0 (10:0) (great superiority) Tervel Ivaylov Dlagnev from the USA in the semifinals but lost 1:3 (1:3) to Taha Akgul from Turkey in the finals.

Alireza Karimi Machiani (Alireza Mohammad Karimimachiani) competed in the Men’s Freestyle 86kg event. He defeated 3:0 (9:0) Mohammed Saadaoui from Tunisia in the qualification round and 3:1 (7:2) Mihail Petrov Ganev from Bulgaria in the 1/8 finals but lost 1:3 (1:5) to J’den Michael Tbory Cox from the USA in the quarterfinals. He finished 7th in the overall ranking.

Meisam Abolfazl Nasiri (Meysam Nassiri) competed in the Men’s Freestyle 65kg event. He lost 1:3 (7:10) to Borislav Stefanov Novachkov from Bulgaria in the qualification round. He finished 15th in the overall ranking.

Gold Hassan Yazdani Cherati (Hassan Aliazam Yazdanicharati) competed in the Men’s Freestyle 74kg event. He defeated 10:0 (great superiority) Asnage Castelly from Haiti in the 1/8 Final, 6:1 Soner Demirtes from Turkey in the quarterfinals, 10:0 (great superiority) Galymzhan Usserbayev from Kazakhstan in the semifinals and 6:6 (last points scored) Aniuar Geduev from Russia.

Reza Yazdani (Reza Mohammad Ali Yazdani) competed in the Men’s Freestyle 97kg event. He defeated 4:0 (10:0) Ibrahim Bolukbasi from Turkey in the qualification round but lost 1:3 (1:2) to Khetag Goziumov from Azerbaijan in the quarterfinals. He had a chance to qualify to through repechages to the bronze medal match, when Goziumov qualifed to the final (gold medal match). Although he defeated 1:3 (2:5) Radoslaw Baran from Poland in the 1st round of the repechage, he lost 0:5 (victory by fall) to Magomed Idrisovitch Ibragimov from Uzbekistan in the 2nd round of the repechage. He finished 7th in the overall ranking.



WRESTLING: Greco-Roman

Saeid Abdevali (born 1989 in Andimeshk, Khuzestan) is an Iranian wrestler. He won gold in Greco-Roman Wrestling (66kg) at the 2011 World Championships. At the Asian Games he won gold (2010) in 66kg and bronze (2014) in 71kg. Abdevali won also bronze at the Asian Wrestling Championships in 2009 (66kg) and 2010 (75kg).

Habibollah Akhlaghi (born 1985 in Andimeshk, Khuzestan) is an Iranian wrestler in Greco-Roman. He won bronze at the World Wrestling Championships in 2009 (84kg) and 2015 (85kg), gold in 2012 (84kg) at the Asian Wrestling Champinoships and gold at the 2014 Asian Games in the 80kg division. Akhlaghi is a Ph.D. student of Sports Management in Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz.

Bashir Babajanzadeh Darzi (born 1989 in Babol, Mazandaran) is an Iranian male wrestler. He won gold at the 2011 Asian Wrestling Championships in the 120kg division and bronze at the 2011 World Wrestling Championships (120kg), at the 2014 Asian Games (130kg) and at the 2015 Asian Wrestling Championships (130kg).

Omid Norouzi (born 1986 in Shiraz, Fars) is an Iranian Greco-Roman wrestler. He won gold in the Greco-Roman 60kg category at the 2012 London Olympics. Nowruzi won gold at the 2010 Asian Games and at the 2011 World Wrestling Championships. He won silver at the 2014 World Championships.

Ghasem Rezaei (born 1985 in Amol, Mazandaran) is an Iranian Greco-Roman wrestler. He won gold in the 96kg Greco-Roman category at the 2012 London Olympics. Rezaei first success at international level was 2007 when he won bronze in the FILA Senior World Championships. He won bronze at the same competition in 2014 and silver in 2015.

Hamid Sourian Reihanpour (born 1985 in Rey, Teheran Province) is an Iranian wrestler. He is a six-time world champion in Greco-Roman wrestling (2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010 in 55kg and 2014 in 59kg). Sourian won the Junior World Championships and Senior World Championships in 2005. He won gold at the Asian Championships in 2007 and 2008. In London 2012, Sourian won Iran’s first gold medal in Greco-Roman wrestling at the Olympics.

Rio Olympics 2016: Bronze Saeid Morad Abdvali competed in the Men’s Greco-Roman 75kg event. He lost 1:1 to Mark Overgaard Madsen from Denmark in the 1/8 Finals. Since Madsen qualified to the gold medal match, he had a chance to qualify to the repechage, where he won 2:2 to Viktor Nemes from Serbia. In the bronze medal match he defeated Peter Bacsi from Hungary 5:2.

Habibollah Jomeh Akhlaghi competed in the Men’s Greco-Roman 85kg event. He advanced to the 2nd Repechage round. He defeated 10:0 Zakarias Berg from Sweden in the Qualification round and lost 9:2 to Davit Chakvetadze from Russia in the 1/8 Finals (victory by fall). Since Chakvetadze qualified to the gold medal match, he had a chance to qualify to the repechages for a place in the bronze medal match. In the 1st Repechage round he defeated 3:2 Saman Ahmed Tahmasebi, Naturalized Azerbaijani from Iran. In the 2nd Repechage round he lost 1:1 to Denis Maksymilian Kudla from Germany, future bronze medal winner. He finished in 7th place in the overall ranking.

Bashir Asgari Babajanzadeh Darzi competed in the Men’s Greco-Roman 130kg event. He defeated Qiang Meng from China 3:1 in the 1/8 Final but lost in the Quarterfinals 1:3 to Eduard Popp from Germany. He finished in 10th place in the overall ranking.

Omid Haji Noroozi competed in the Men’s Greco-Roman 66kg event. He defeated Wuileixis de Jesus Rivas Espinoza from Venezuela 2:1 in the 1/8 Final but lost in the Quarterfinals 0:2 to Shmagi Bolkvadze from Georgia. He finished in 10th place in the overall ranking.

Bronze Ghasem Gholamreza Rezaei competed in the Men’s Greco-Roman 98kg event. He defeated 8:0 (great superiority) Luillys Jose Perez Mora from Venezuela in the 1/8 Final but lost in the Quarterfinals 0:4 to Yasmany Daniel Lugo Cabrera from Cuba, who won later the silver medal. In the repechage he defeated Di Xiao from China 7:0 and qualified to the bronze medal match, where he won 4:4 to Carl Frederik Stefan Schoen from Sweden.

Hamid Mohammad Soryan competed in the Men’s Greco-Roman 59kg event. He advanced to the 1st Repechage round. He lost 4:5 to Shinobu Ota from Japan in the Qualification round. Since Ota qualified to the gold medal match, he had a chance to qualify to the repechages for a place in the bronze medal match. In the 1st Repechage round he was winning 7:6 to Almat Kebispayev from Kazakhstan, when Kebispayev achieved a fall to win the match. He finished in 11th place in the overall ranking.

Sources: Rio 2016 | Schedule and results by day, Tehran Times, Wikipedia, IranWire | E. Ahmadi, AIBA Pro Boxing, zimbio.com, Mehr News Agency (MNA), The Guardian, foxsports.com, sputniknews.com, PressTV: G. Sebghatollahi, issf-sports.org | Athletes, judoinside.com | Judoka Search, PressTV: A. Nasimi Shad, FIE (International Fencing Federation), Tasnim News Agency (TNA) | Boxing, TNA | Cycling Road Race, Borna News | Rowing, Borna News | Shooting (Air Rifle), TNA | Shooting (Air Rifle), Young Journalists Club (YJC) | Shooting (Air Pistol), TNA | Swimming, MNA | Swimming, TNA | Judo, ISCA News | Day 1 & 2, TNA | Table Tennis, Borna News | Alamian, YJC | Alamian, YJC, Alamiyan, YCJ | Shahsavari, MNA | Fencing, IRNA | Day 5, TNA | Cycling Road (Time Trial), TNA | Fencing, Borna | Fencing, YJC | Fencing 1, YJC | Fencing 2, IAAF | Athletes, IWF | Senior Men’s World Records, Wikipedia (in Persian), ITTF | Men’s Ranking (Aug. 2016), ITTF | Women’s Ranking (Aug. 2016), TNA | Judo -100kg, TNA | Weightlifting -85kg, MNA | Iran-Poland, MNA | Argentina-Iran, MNA | 20km Race Walk, IRNA | Opening Ceremony, TNA | Opening Ceremony, TNA | Athletics, IWF | Athletes, TNA | Weightlifting -94kg, IRNA | Day 8, IRNA | Weightlifting -94kg, MNA | Weightlifting -94kg, MNA | Iran-Egypt, TNA | Shooting (Rifle 3 pos), TNA | Wrestling Greco-Roman 75kg, TNA | Wrestling Greco-Roman 59kg 1, TNA | Wrestling Greco-Roman 75kg 2, YJC | Weightlifting -105kg, MNA | Russia-Iran, YJC | Wrestling Greco-Roman 59kg, TNA | Wrestling Greco-Roman 59kg 2, TNA | Wrestling Greco-Roman 130kg, TNA | Wrestling Greco-Roman 85kg 1, TNA | Weightlifting -105kg, TNA | Wrestling Greco-roman 85kg 2, TNA | Wrestling Greco-Roman 66kg & 98kg, Tehran Times | Mojallali, instagram @adel.mojallali, YJC | Weightlifting +105kg, MNA | Weightlifting +105kg, ISCA | Weightlifting +105kg, TNA | Weightlifting +105kg, Payvand, MNA | Wrestling Greco-Roman 66kg & 98kg, ISCA | Wrestling Greco-Roman 66kg & 98kg, YJC | Wrestling Greco-Roman 66kg, YJC | Wrestling Greco-Roman 98kg, TNA | Wrestling Greco-Roman 98kg 1, TNA | Wrestling Greco-Roman 98kg 2, IRNA | Overview Aug 17th, MNA | Italy-Iran, TNA | Italy-Iran, YJC | Italy-Iran, YJC | Taekwondo Men’s 58kg, ISCA | Taekwondo Men’s 58kg, Borna | Taekwondo Men’s 58kg, ISCA | Canoe Sprint, Borna | Canoe Sprint, ISCA | Hammer Throw, World Taekwondo Federation | Ranking, World Taekwondo Federation | News Day 2, IRNA | Taekwondo Women’s 57kg, TNA | Taekwondo Women’s 57kg, YJC | Taekwondo Women’s 57kg, MNA | Taekwondo Women’s 57kg, IRNA | Overview Aug. 19th, MNA | Overview Freestyle Wrestling Aug. 19th, TNA | Wrestling Freestyle 74kg 1, TNA | Wrestling Freestyle 74kg 2, TNA | Wrestling Freestyle 74kg 3, IRNA | Wrestling Freestyle 74kg 1, YJC | Wrestling Freestyle 74kg 1, YJC | Wrestling Freestyle 74kg 2, YJC | Wrestling Freestyle 74kg 3, TNA | Taekwondo -80kg, TNA | Wrestling Freestyle 57kg, IRNA | Wrestling Freestyle 57kg, YJC | Wrestling Freestyle 57kg, IRNA | Overview Aug. 20th, MNA | Wrestling Overview Aug. 20th, YJC | Wrestling Overview Aug. 20th, TNA | Wrestling Freestyle 125kg 1, TNA | Wrestling Freestyle 125kg 2, ISCA | Wrestling Freestyle 125kg, IRNA | Wrestling Freestyle 125kg, YJC | Wrestling Freestyle 125kg 1, YJC | Wrestling Freestyle 125kg 2, TNA | Wrestling Freestyle 86kg, TNA | Taekwondo +80kg, MNA | Taekwondo +80kg, Borna | Taekwondo +80kg, TNA | Wrestling Freesytle 97kg, YJC | Wrestling Freesytle 97kg 1, YJC | Wrestling Freesytle 97kg 2, TNA | Wrestling Freesytle 65kg, YJC | Wrestling Freesytle 65kg, TNA | Athletics – Marathon