The Most Important Results of Women's and Men's Sports in Iran in 2014

Radio Farda provided a separate analysis introducing the most important events in Iranian football in 2014. This report highlights the successes and failures of non-football sports and the results of Iranian men and women in prestigious global, continental, international, and domestic competitions. In the first month of the year, at the World Youth Taekwondo Championships, Iranian girls became the world runners-up for the first time, winning one gold, one silver, and two bronze medals in Taiwan. The Asian Club Volleyball Championship concluded with the championship of Matin Varamin Club, which defeated Al Rayyan of Qatar in the final. In May, the Iranian national freestyle wrestling team secured the first position at the Asian Championships, winning 6 gold medals, while Greco-Roman wrestling finished third with one gold, one silver, and three bronze medals, following Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. The sitting volleyball championship in Mashhad ended with Iran's victory, although the women's sitting volleyball team finished second after losing to China. Ehsan Hamidinejad won a bronze medal at the Asian Snooker Championships. The Premier Basketball League concluded with the championship of Petrochemical Bandar Imam Club, which defended its title after five matches against Mahram. At the Asian Youth Wrestling Championships hosted by Thailand, the Greco-Roman team won the championship with 4 gold, 4 silver, and 1 bronze. However, in freestyle wrestling, India came first, and Iran finished as the runner-up. The national Greco-Roman wrestling team became champions at the World Cup hosted in Tehran, but shortly after the competitions, Taleb Namati Pour's doping test was declared positive, leading to his suspension by the World Federation, although Iran retained the championship trophy. Matin Varamin's volleyball team was eliminated from the World Club Championship after losing to representatives from Brazil and Russia and winning against a representative from Puerto Rico. After the World Table Tennis Championships held in Japan, both the men's and women's teams of Iran rose in the world rankings. Alireza Soleimani, the heavyweight wrestling champion and winner of the 1989 World Gold Medal in Switzerland, passed away at the age of 58 due to a heart attack. In June, the Japan Cycling Tour concluded with the championship of the Petrochemical team. This club, which had won the basketball league, also secured the title of the Premier Table Tennis League. At the Asian Taekwondo Championships hosted by Uzbekistan, Iran dominated Asia with 3 gold, 2 silver, and 1 bronze. The Iranian youth freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling teams won the Asian Championships, collectively earning 11 gold medals. Iranian tennis, after defeating the UAE, Lebanon, and Singapore, and then overcoming Syria, advanced to the second group of the Davis Cup in the Asia-Pacific region. The sitting volleyball team of Iran finished third in the world in Poland, defeating Egypt in the ranking match. The sports stories of Iran in the second season of the year began with the championship of the Iranian bodybuilding team at the Asian Championships held in Sri Lanka, but the dance of Iranian champions at the closing ceremony received more media attention than the championship itself. The Iranian national volleyball team finished second in its group in the World League after Italy and advanced to the finals. After losing to the USA, the team secured fourth place and reached the eleventh position in the world ranking. The Iranian national basketball team won the Asia Cup title after defeating Taiwan in a tournament held in China, earning a ticket to the Asian Cup. Sara Javanmardi and Mehdi Zamani became champions in the world disabled shooting championships hosted in Germany. The World Youth Freestyle Wrestling Championships were held in Slovakia, where Iran finished as the runner-up with 2 gold and 5 bronze medals. The Iranian youth freestyle wrestling team won the world championship in Zagreb, Croatia, after 19 years, with Ehsan Sadighi at 60 kg, Hassan Yazdani at 66 kg, and Alireza Karimi at 84 kg being the gold medalists. The World Cadet Taekwondo Championships in Azerbaijan concluded with Iran winning in both boys' and girls' categories. Iran's karate team became the runner-up in the fifth stage of the World League in Japan, winning 3 gold, 2 silver, and 3 bronze medals, and finished third in the sixth stage hosted by Turkey. In the World Basketball Championship held in Spain, Iran concluded its participation with losses to the host, Brazil, Serbia, and France, and one victory against Egypt. In the World Volleyball Championships hosted in Poland, where some spectators protested the arrest of Ghoncheh Ghavami, Iran advanced to the third round after defeating Australia, Serbia, and Argentina, but unexpectedly failed against France and Germany, missing out on the finals. Iran also lost to Russia 0-3, finishing in sixth place. The World Wrestling Championships in Uzbekistan saw the freestyle team earn 3 silver and 2 bronze medals, finishing as the world runner-up after Russia, while the Greco-Roman team, under coach Ahmad Pazaj, won its first-ever world championship with 1 gold, 1 silver, and 2 bronze medals. Hamid Sourian also broke Abdollah Mohammadi's record by winning his seventh gold. The 17th Asian Games were held in Incheon, South Korea, where Iran's sports caravan ranked fifth with 21 gold, 18 silver, and 18 bronze medals. China again secured the first position. Iranian men and women excelled in wrestling, taekwondo, karate, and volleyball in these competitions. Iran also achieved remarkable and sometimes unprecedented results in archery, canoeing, shooting, and cycling. In the Incheon Para Asian Games, Iran performed well, finishing fourth. However, the government's ceremony to honor the medalists from the Asian Games faced numerous protests, and the athletes' voices of dissent echoed in the media until the end of Esfand. Sara Javanmardi was named the best female athlete in Asia in 2014 by the Asian Paralympic Committee. Javanmardi won two gold medals at the Incheon Para Asian Games and a gold in the world disabled shooting championships in Germany. In the World Weightlifting Championships hosted by Kazakhstan, Iran finished seventh with 2 gold, 3 silver, and 1 bronze. Kianoush Rostami won gold, and Behdad Salimi unexpectedly took silver. Iran had previously secured third place in the last two editions. The national weightlifting team of National Drilling Company won the Asian-Africa Club Championship. The Iranian karate team concluded its participation in the World Championships hosted in Germany with one gold medal in the team kumite section, two silver medals from Hamideh Abasali and Sajjad Ganjzadeh, and two bronze medals from Amir Mahdizadeh and the girls' team kata. Babak Ghorbani, a former World Cup wrestling champion, committed suicide in the Dieselabad prison. Gholamhossein Mazloumi, a former star of Esteghlal and the Iranian national team, also passed away. The first edition of the World Club League in freestyle wrestling concluded with the championship of the Rahmat Insurance team from Jouybar, Mazandaran. In Greco-Roman wrestling, the Pastour Andimeshk team also stood on the first podium in Abadan. In the Asian Water Polo Club Championship hosted in Tehran, Kazakhstan's Astana took first place, and Zarrin Maadan Zanjan became the runner-up. In the World Taekwondo Championship in Mexico, the Iranian national team finished third after losing to the host in the semifinals. The Iranian kabaddi team secured third place in the world after India and Pakistan. In winter, Iran lost the secretary position in the Asian Weightlifting Confederation, previously held by Ali Moradi, continuing the trend of Iran's unsuccessful attempts to secure new sports positions or maintain previous ones. In the World Handball Championship hosted in Qatar, Iran participated for the first time but finished in 21st place with five consecutive losses in its group and a victory over Chile and Saudi Arabia in the losers' table. The Yazd Kavir Cycling Team won the Iranian Road Championship. The Varamin Municipality Taekwondo team also became champions in the Asian Club Championship. In the semi-professional boxing league in Bulgaria, Ehsan Rouzbehani secured the first Olympic quota for Iran for the 2016 Brazil Olympics by defeating an opponent from Mauritania. The Isfahan Zob Ahan weightlifting team ended the four-year championship streak of the National Drilling Company and won the league title. Saeed Azari, the CEO of Zob Ahan, is a former champion of this sport. In the World Greco-Roman Wrestling Championship hosted in Tehran, the national team lost to Azerbaijan and finished third. Jamshid Khairabadi, a former coach of the Iranian national team, led Azerbaijan to victory. In the Indoor Hockey World Cup hosted in Germany, the Iranian national team surprised everyone by finishing fourth. In the first edition of the National Basketball League, Mahram secured first place by defeating the Petrochemical Bandar Imam team. The Iranian cycling team shone at the Asian Championships in Thailand, winning 3 gold, 4 silver, and 2 bronze medals. Hossein Asgari also secured an Olympic quota. The Iranian national baseball team finished as the runner-up in West Asia, defeating India and Iraq and losing to Pakistan. The Iranian billiards team won the championship at the Asian Championships held in the UAE with 4 gold, 1 silver, and 2 bronze medals. The Iranian fencing team finished eighth in the A-class World Championships in Poland in the sabre category, achieving this title by defeating the USA, the Olympic runner-up. In skiing, the Iranian national team missed the opportunity to participate in the World Championships in the USA. However, Hossein Saveh Shamski won a gold medal in the small slalom and a silver medal in the giant slalom at the Alpine Championships in South Korea. The death of Farhad Varasteh, the father of karate in Iran, Hassan Rangarz's coaching of the Moroccan national Greco-Roman wrestling team, the newsworthy coaching of Reza Mohammadi in the Azerbaijani national taekwondo team, and the migration of Iranian champions to this country were other significant events in Iranian sports in the final days of 2014.