Interview
Shirzanan’s interview with Mrs. Azizi, the deputy manager of Iran Tennis Federation, about women’s tennis
Arghavan Rezaie in Iran women’s national tennis team
Shirzanan – Fereshteh Movahed / translated by Roja Najafi: It is hard for most people to imagine professional women’s tennis in Iran. Perhaps this is because there are very few women playing. Until recently the Iran women’s tennis team did not participate in international tournaments, because the federation had not approved the Islamic clothing for the sport. Everyone has been wondering why Arghavan Reazaie, one of the best female tennis players in the world, did not play for the Iranian national team. Now that the Islamic outfit for tennis has been approved, Iran will form a women’s tennis team and Arghavn Rezaie, who wants to play for Iran, will be part of the team. To find out the details of the next year’s plan for Iran women’s national Tennis team Shirzanan speaks to Mrs Azizi.
Mrs. Azizi could you please bring us up-to-date about women’s tennis in Iran?
We have good female tennis players and fortunately we now have the approval for the clothing design. This is the first step for sending the Iran women’s tennis team to international tournaments.
Do we have a women’s national team?
Up to now women did not have a national team, but we will work on it.
What are your plans for the development of tennis for women in the country?
We have a 5-year development plan. We will focus on a few major issues each year. This year we are going to work on increasing our resources. Unfortunately so far our progress is slow. But we hope to improve this. To do so, we need to play at the Asian competitive level.
We are also working to train better tennis coaches and keep improving the one’s we already have. And we are working with the Ministry of Education and City Halls across the country in order to get their support for our fundamental restructuring.
Many people believe that Tennis is a sport for wealthy people. What do you say about that?
If you look at other sports in Iran, most of them have their own special schools and many sponsors. In Iran, tennis has a very small budget and even the trainer’s salary is lower than for other sports.
What’s the procedure of choosing members for the women’s national team? And have you invited Arghavan Rezaie to join the team?
For this year we are planning to have three national tournaments, and we will choose the best female tennis players from these games. As for Arghavn Rezaie - yes, we will have her in the team! She expressed her intention to join the team, and she will wear Islamic clothing when she plays for the Iran team.
How do you see the future of women’s tennis in Iran?
Based on past history it is really hard to foresee the future. But if we move according to our plans, we will generate more interest in the sport and we will have a bright future.
