Tehran, Iran, September 3, 2026: Dr. Mahdi Alinejad, Secretary General of the National Olympic Committee of the Islamic Republic of Iran, urged the Iranian athletes heading to the 20th Asian Games to compete with maximum resolve, emphasising that they represent the entire nation rather than individual sports.
Speaking at the farewell ceremony for the "Minab Angels" – Iran’s delegation to Aichi-Nagoya has been dubbed this in memory of the schoolchildren killed in Minab during a US-Israeli air strike on February 28 – Dr. Alinejad highlighted the weight of responsibility carried by the athletes.
“You are not just representatives of a discipline, a team or a federation. You are the representatives of Iran. Enter the arena with calmness, compete with courage and respect your opponents. Be humble in victory and dignified in defeat. Do not give in until the last second,” urged the Iran NOC Secretary General.
Dr. Alinejad concluded by expressing his hopes that the Iranian national anthem would echo through the arenas of Nagoya and Aichi prefecture and that the nation’s flag would be raised high across Asia.