Interview
Shirzanan’s interview with the deputy manager of Iran’s Wushu federation
We even didn’t have a practice salon
Shirzanan - translated by Roja Najafi: The 2008 Beijing Olympic this year was ended with the world championship of Taolu and Sanshu performers and Iran’s female Wushu participants were there in two weights; for the first time in Iran’s Wushu history a female Wushu player won the gold medal.
Karimi, 60 kg, won the gold medal and Dehghan won the bronze medal. These achievements got the attention of main international media. Dehghan and Karimi are also invited for world’s stars competitions in China. We have an interview with Jaleh Sharifi, the deputy manager of Wushu federation in women’s affair.
Mrs. Sharifi what do you think about the games?
These competitions were held with pre-qualification games in two weights 60 and 52 Kg. Also, the level of the competitions were even higher than regular Wushu world championships. 18 countries were participating in this game; 10 in 52 Kg and 8 in 60 Kg.
How were the performances of Karimi and Dehghan? What a bout their opponents?
They both put their hearth and soul in these competitions. Their opponents were very strong. Dehghan in 52 Kg won her Tunisian opponents and then lost of the Philippine. She won the bronze medal; she fought really hard to get to finals.
And Karimi won all of her games, before she had lost to the Vietnamese’ wushu practitioner and that motivated her and she won this time. These two medals are the result of their hard work. We had very tough conditions here.
What was tough?
6 months before the Beijing games we started our camps but during all this time we did not have any decent practice place in Tehran, so we held our practice sessions in other towns. It was tough on them but they practiced hard.
How were the jurors and the referees?
I didn’t see any complains from other teams; It was good.
Do you think Wushu will become an Olympic sport?
Usually for adding a new event to Olympics one event should be eliminated; we have heard that two events are going to get eliminated, so we are hopeful to be added soon. The Beijing Wushu games, although were held after the official Olympic games ended, got lots of publicity. The only difference was that the medals did not count for the teams.
What about the World’s Star games? What are your plans?
We start our camps from August 30th and we continue them until the games date. We are participating in 48, 52, 56 and 60 Kg. with Zeinalzadeh, Dehghan, Tahmasbi and Karimi. These games will be harder but we will be preparing for it.
For Taolu we also are hiring a Chinese coach and we are hoping to see good results in the world competitions in Indonesia.
Do you think Iran’s female wushu team will win any medals in these games?
Yes, they are very able and they did it before.
