Croatian Olympic president Mateša meets Iranian sports officials

Tehran Times – TEHRAN, The Croatian Olympic Committee (COC) President Zlatko Mateša is in Iran to meet the Iranian top sport officials.

In a meeting held in the National Olympic Committee of Iran headquarters, the two committees inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to boost sports cooperation between two countries.

Mateša was warmly welcomed by Iran NOC President Reza Salehi Amiri in the meeting and they predicted a bright future for sports cooperation between two parties.

Mateša also held a meeting with Iranian Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Masoud Soltanifar.

During the visit, the COC President awarded Luka Modric No. 10 jersey to Soltanifar.

“We look forward to deepening cooperation and building stronger ties between Iran and Croatia. Iran can help Croatia in sports including weightlifting, taekwondo, wrestling, karate and wushu and Croatia is sporting powerhouse in athletic, gymnastic, swimming and water polo. We have to promote the exchange of programs, experiences, skills, and knowledge to support our athletes,” Soltanifar said.

Mateša also said Croatia is looking forward to further strengthen the bilateral cooperation with Iran.

“We are here to boost sports collaboration between two countries. We can exchange coaches and athletes and hold seminars in sports education. Branko Ivankovic (Persepolis coach) is one of the popular sports characters in Croatia and we are happy there is a connection between two nations by football,” he said.

Zlatko Mateša also met the Iranian handball and basketball federations’ presidents and signed MoU with them to boost cooperation in these sports.