Hangzhou, China, September 20, 2023: Iran team leader Seyed Manaf Hashemi is the number one cheerleader as the country’s volleyball legend, Seyed Mohammad Mousavi, goes for gold at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou.
Hashemi, the Chef de Mission of the Iranian delegation to the September 23-October 8 Hangzhou Games, was confident that the men’s volleyball juggernaut would be in the gold medal match on September 26.
“Mousavi is the captain of the volleyball team and we are very confident he will lead the side to another gold medal. Every gold medal at the Asian Games is special, and this one will be even more as we are bidding for a hat-trick of volleyball gold medals at these Games,” Hashemi reminded.
Iran is the two-time defending gold medallists in men’s volleyball. They won gold at Incheon 2014 and Jakarta 2018 and will be going all out to underline their dominance in recent years at the Hangzhou Games. Only Japan and Korea have better records at this event. Japan has won a record eight gold medals, but has not triumphed since 2010, and Korea has won three gold medals.
Legendary middle blocker Mousavi, meanwhile, is aiming for his fourth Asian Games medal. The 36-year-old, who has more than one million followers on Instagram, took home the silver at Guangzhou 2010 before being a part of the gold medal-winning teams at the subsequent two Games. He is the only Iranian volleyball player to take part in the three previous Games.
Iran team chief Hashemi, who is also the Secretary General of the National Olympic Committee of the Islamic Republic of Iran, was confident the 289-strong athlete squad – 211 male athletes and 78 female - would take home a rich haul of medals. Iran is taking part in 34 sports disciplines.
“We are very confident of matching our previous results in Jakarta (in 2018). But our target is to improve on this result. Apart from volleyball, we are hopeful of medals in football, kurash, wushu, wrestling, karate among other sports,” Hashemi noted.
Iran won a total of 62 medals at the last Games in Jakarta – 20 golds, 20 silver and 22 bronze medals – and was ranked sixth overall.
Mousavi and his men know the campaign for a gold medal hat-trick will be tough, however. At last month’s Asian Championship in Tehran, Iran was beaten by Japan in the gold medal match.
A total of 19 teams divided into six pools will compete for the men’s gold in volleyball. Competition is already underway.
