Based on the reports that Shirzanan has received in this round of matches, 66 ping-pong players from different provinces of Iran including Mashhad were competing. 7 of these athletes have made it to the final stage. These 7 athlets along with 5 other athletes who were selected as the best ping-pong players in the last season are going to compete with each other in the final stage. By the end of this stage, 4 of these ping-pong players will be considered the members of the Degree One group.

Iran Manesh, Jafari Vafa, Samet, Shahsavari, Afshari, Ghalebeigi, Ageen, Aemmeh Doost, Jalali, Rakedi, Moradi and Haji Abadi are the ones who will compete in the final stage.

In an interview with IRNA, Mahdieh Montazerah stated, “If only we could be trained by more professional coaches and specialists for each weapon, we would be able to be a much more successful team in Asia”.

Mentioning the fact that their current coaches could only train them for national competitions, she said, “In order for us to internationally succeed, our coaches should become more knowledgeable in different aspects of this sport”.

Montazeran added, “We could strengthen our team by starting training sessions for our coaches, valuing their work and also by hiring excellent coaches from other countries”.

Montazeran, who became the first medalist at the international competitions in Goergia in the field of Flore weapon, stated, “Iranian female athletes in the field of fencing have proved that they are brilliant and talented and that they could become medalists for our country”.

She is worried that the budge that is spent for women’s fencing is insufficient and said, “We have to buy all of our necessities for the sport when we are sent abroad for matches”.

Montazeran added, “ If we cannot buy what we need to have for the matches, the federation could only lend them to us”.

Montazeran said, “To this day the entire women’s fencing team(4 of us) has been never sent to international competitions”.

She said, “Since the fencing committee of the province of Yazd really values fencing for the youth, the future champions of fencing will be from this province”.

Montazeri is 20 years old and currently studies medicine at Yazd University. She has participated at adults’ competition in Malasia and at the Asian Youth competition in Kuwait. She was also selected to compete at the Asian competitions in Kazakhstan. Despite the fact that she was in the group of 16 best fencers in Asia, she was eventually omitted from the competitions. This young Iranian woman who became the champion of the Georgia International Competitions, has also won the first place five times, 4 times she has become 2nd and 5 times has stood on the third spot at national competitions.

More importantly Iran’s team was able to achieve its first medal at the Asian championships. Initially many had considered sending three women as a apart of Iran’s national team to this championship, waste of money and energy. They also believed that Iran Sports’ Federation has decided to send these three women to the championships mainly to show the world that Iranian women are in fact allowed to participate in international athletic events. Since they had underestimated these athletes, the news of Tousi’s presence in the finals and Ebrahimi’s having won a bronze medal came as surprises to many of those who were skeptical of women’s presence at international championships.

Given the number of the athletes who participate in women’s 3000m obstacle events, Leila Ebrahimi’s chances of wining an Asian medal were high. Due to her abilities in this field, coaches had already predicted her success. In the case of the 5000m event, too, many hope that she will be among the first 6 athletes even if she is not going to become a medalist. In an interview conducted before the event, Niazzadeh, the Vice President of Iran Sports’ Federation said, “ Ebrahimi has worked very hard and has had rigorous practices for this international event. She should be able to succeed in the 3000m event. I think that she will achieve the first medal in 3000m obstacle for Iran at the Asian Championships in which case we will all be very happy and grateful”.

Niazzadeh’s prediction was indeed accurate. Leila Ebrahimi became a bronze medalist of the 3000m obstacle event. This was the first time that Iranian women became medalists at the Asian Championships.

Iran’s other hope is Maryam Tousi, who became the fourth runner in 400 m of the first round in the preliminary stage. In 57 seconds and 0.21 seconds she became the fourth runner to finish the 400m event. In an interview that was conducted before the event, the Vice President of the Iran Sports’ Federation had said, “This is going to be Tousi’s first experience at international championships. She broke the 200m record in Iran after 30 years. She also holds the 400m record in Iran and has sufficient abilities to succeed at the Asian Championship. However, we are aware of the fact that since this is her first experience, becoming a medalist is not yet expected from her and we hope that in the future she could become a medalist”.

Having been able to enter the finals, Tousi does indeed have the chance of becoming a medalist. She has gone beyond all expectations and her success has brought optimism and happiness for the team. In addition to the fact that she can become a medalist in 400m, she could prepare herself for the 200m event.

As the head of the Iran’s team has already stated, there is a high chance that Zahra Nabizadeh, who holds sprints record in Iran, could break Iran’s record at the Asian championship. Nabizadeh, however, has a significant problem that might prevent her from succeeding. Many experts believe that her inappropriate and uncomfortable outfit could become problematic during the event. In regards to Nabizadeh’s condition in sprints, Niazzadeh stated, “I think she could achieve the 1m and 80 cm record in these competitions.

Her only problem is her outfit since her paints grip on the obstacle. Due to this problem she usually cannot end her good sprints with excellent results. We, of course, insist that they wear the best outfits while they abide by Islamic principles. Despite this condition, Nabizadeh wants to break Iran’s record and to at least become one of the first 6 sprinters by the end of these competitions”.