Road to Olympics 2020 Tokyo

[Irannn]

I heard a horrible rumor that Hassan Yazdani is injured and may miss the Olympics. Is it true or usual Iranian fake news?

the injury news is true but it seems they exaggerated about it as usual, Yazdani on his instagram claimed that's not a big problem and hopefully he will be back soon.

but still we will have the confirmed news on Saturday, when they examine him very closely in Tehran. so let's hope it's no big deal.

[Irannn]

at the end of 2019, Iran won 29 Olympic quotas so far, so many events left for the next year. I made a list of remaining events. in some sports the qualification is based on the ranking which is a lengthy process, in those events I write the last day for announcing the final ranking. in other events, AQT means Asian Qualification tournament and WQT means World QT. in other sports I'm not mentioning here, the qualifiers are already done or Iran has no chance anymore.

Aquatics: I'm not sure if Iran participate at the last Diving tournament, our chance is very slim in Water Polo and also in Swimming to qualify anybody but we will get a wild card most probably.
Water Polo AQT, February (Kazakhstan)
Diving WQT, 21-26 April (Japan)
Swimming Deadline for the qualification standard, 6 July

Archery: slim chance to qualify a full team in both genders or 1 individual quota in women's archery. that women's individual quota is more realistic.
WQT, 22-28 April (Germany)

Athletics: Already qualified 2, good chance for Mehdi Pirjahan in 400m hurdles, even if he fails to reach the qualification standard, he still has a good chance to qualify through the ranking. I don't think we can count on anybody else.
Deadline for the qualification standard, 29 June

Badminton: Sorayya Aghaei is travelling the world to collect points, right now she is in good position but still long way to go.
Ranking, 30 April

Basketball: women's 3x3 failed to qualify via ranking, they will participate in two separate QTs, no chance.
3x3 WQT, March (India and Hungary)

Boxing: our best chance is in Asia, only if we get lucky with the draw.
AQT, 3-14 February (China)
WQT, 13-24 May (France)

Canoeing: I was more optimistic last time I wrote about Canoeing, even our best canoeists both left the training camp ! they are back now but missed precious training times. not optimistic for even 1 quota but we will see.
AQT, 22-29 March (Thailand)

Fencing: quota in men's sabre team is almost guaranteed via ranking, slim chances for women's sabre or men's epee to qualify in AQT.
Ranking, 4 April
AQT, 15-16 April (South Korea)

Football:
AQT, 8-26 January (Thailand)

Gymnastics: it's almost a sure thing Keikha can't win the ranking in his special event, China or Japan will. he will qualify only and only if those 2 countries prefer to send someone in another event. (they are in top of the ranking in more than one event but has to pick just one)
Ranking, 21 March

Karate: we have a chance to qualify a full kumite team. I hope for at least 4 from the ranking and then we can complete our team in the last QT.
Ranking, 6 April
WQT, 8-10 May (France)

Rowing: One quota is a sure thing, but we want more we have to win gold in both events. that's actually possible because Iran have the Asian Champion in both men's singles and women's singles.
AQT, 27-30 April (South Korea)

Sailing: I don't think there is a chance but I still list this
AQT, 15-22 March (China)

Shooting: We are done with qualification tournaments, very slim chance to qualify more by ranking but I don't think that's possible.
Ranking, 31 May

Sport Climbing: Elnaz Rekabi tried her chance in WQT but finished in penultimate position, I hardly doubt she can qualify in Asia because there is only 1 spot available.
AQT, 18-24 May (Japan)

Table Tennis: the first WQT is only for team events, we will try our chance for men's team but that's a long shot, most probably we have to try our chance for individual quotas in AQT. I think there is a good chance for one quota in men's singles. but that's possible to win another quota in men's singles or 1 quota in women's singles.
WQT, 22-26 January (Portugal)
AQT, 6-12 April (Thailand)

Taekwondo: We are done with men's events with 2 quotas. now it's our turn to try our chance in women's events. we will send 2 girls but I'm not optimistic to qualify both of them. 1 will be OK result but even that is not a sure thing.
AQT, 10-11 April (China)

Volleyball: Ghafour's injury was a big blow to our chance but I believe we are still the favorite. our beach volleyball team also qualified for the AQT finals to challenge 7 other Asian teams for the only available quota. slim chance.
AQT, 7-12 January (China)
Beach Volleyball AQT, TBD (TBD)

Weightlifting: We will qualify 2 weightlifters for sure. the question is who and in which weight. we are limited to qualify max 2 because of our doping history.
Ranking, 30 April

Wrestling: we qualified 5 in the main qualification event, 2 more chances left to complete our team. I believe we can qualify 10 or 11.
AQT, 27-29 March (China)
WQT, 1-3 May (Bulgaria)

[_Navid_]

Thanks for the great info.

[Ab-Gosht]

how long is amir ghafor injured?

[Irannn]

how long is amir ghafor injured?

he will be out for something like 2 months apparently, they called up Shahram Mahmoudi (who was retired from the NT) to replace Ghafour.

speaking of injuries, Hassan Yazdani will have a minor surgery soon. he is expected to fully recover in less than 2 months.

[_Navid_]

I am really glad Shahram is back. Ghafour will be hugely missed, but if Shahram can be as good as last time he was in NT, we should be fine.

[Ab-Gosht]

I am really glad Shahram is back. Ghafour will be hugely missed, but if Shahram can be as good as last time he was in NT, we should be fine.

well he cant, u cannot turn back time sorry

[_Navid_]

well he cant, u cannot turn back time sorry

Yeah but he is still 30 and one of the league's best players. He is still our 2nd best spiker IMO.

[Irannn]

Iran started the Asian Volleyball QT with an easy 3-0 win over Chinese Taipei.

also we have the women's QT in Thailand. Iran lost the first match 3-0 to Kazakhstan, and I have to say since they knew there is absolutely no chance to qualify, they sent a junior team, therefore their results will be weaker than usual.

[_Navid_]

Another big shock to Iranian sports. Kimia Alizadeh, our most famous female athlete and only female Olympic medalist in history has left Iran and wants to compete for another country, likely Holland.
She is only 21. This trend keeps getting worse every year.

[Nokhodi]

Another big shock to Iranian sports. Kimia Alizadeh, our most famous female athlete and only female Olympic medalist in history has left Iran and wants to compete for another country, likely Holland.
She is only 21. This trend keeps getting worse every year.

I don't blame her. But how is this acceptable 7 months before the Olympics? I mean isn't it against the rules? Doesn't she have to compete with the 2nd country for a few years at least?

Also, what is her reason for leaving besides the usual khar too khar in Iran?

[_Navid_]

I don't blame her. But how is this acceptable 7 months before the Olympics? I mean isn't it against the rules? Doesn't she have to compete with the 2nd country for a few years at least?

Also, what is her reason for leaving besides the usual khar too khar in Iran?

I am very disappointed about the timing too. She still can get the Olympic qualification spot by competing for Iran in the Asian qualifiers in a few weeks, and really had the potential to immortalize herself by getting 2 or even more Olympic medals for Iran.
But can we really blame her. Iran's Taekwondo federation has been occupied by this Sepahi guy Pouladgar for close to 20 years and he is is sting at the top like a coiled snake with no one having the power to remove him. His horrible management has sent away our greatest ever coach Mehmandoust and two of our world champions Beigi and Khodabakhshi.
She got us 3 world/Olympic medals in 3 years in a row before even becoming 20 years old, the last one while having a very serious knee injury! But she hasn't received the attention she deserved and all the promised prizes has apparently not being given to her after all the years.

Different sports have different rules regarding the change of nationality. Football doesn't allow it once you have played for one. Handball has a 3 year rule. But I don't think there is a long waiting time for Taekwondo as Beigi and Khodabakhshi also competed fairly quickly for Azerbaijan and Serbia.

She is already training in Holland and has removed her Hejab too.
https://twitter.com/behradrezazade/s...00718723207173

[Irannn]

I don't blame her. But how is this acceptable 7 months before the Olympics? I mean isn't it against the rules? Doesn't she have to compete with the 2nd country for a few years at least?
Also, what is her reason for leaving besides the usual khar too khar in Iran?

I prefer to wait until we hear something directly from her. maybe she is just attending some training seminars and just removed her Hejab as most girls do when they leave Iran. but we just heard few weeks ago that she got injured again and the national coach (who was also Kimia's childhood coach and very close to her) doesn't count on her anymore for the Olympics because of her back to back injuries.

but there are rules yes, in taekwondo you have to wait 2 years after your last "official competition" to switch your nationality. if I'm not wrong Kimia just represented Iran at the World Team Championship few months ago. even if they don't count that, she participated at the 2018 Asian Champs.

beside that 2 years rule. IOC has another rule which means if you want to participate at the Olympics you need to wait 3 years and that 2018 Asian Champs makes her ineligible for the Olympics. unless she makes a fake story like Mollaei and make herself a refugee and put herself in "special situation" which won't be easy

and Khodabakhshi can't participate in "official tournaments" anytime soon. he only can participate in minor tournaments, Beigi never represented Iran in Official competitions so it was easy for him to switch country.

[_Navid_]

^ Thank you for the clarifications.

[Irannn]

our volleyball team finished the preliminary round with three 3-0 wins over Chinese Taipei, Kazakhstan and China.

this is the semifinal schedule for 11 January
Iran vs South Korea
Qatar vs China

Australia's elimination was the biggest surprise of the first round, they lost a match to Qatar 3-0 and despite beating Korea (and India) they got eliminated when Korea beat Qatar 3-2. that's good news for Iran because Australia was capable of playing very good (and also very bad sometimes) everything looks good and Iran is clear favorite against the other 3 teams. let's just hope they don't underestimate anybody.