\u00a0Iran plans to send between 300 and 350 athletes to the 2026 Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan, though no team or athlete has been definitively finalized, according to Asghar Rahimi, Iran\u2019s chef de mission for the Games.<\/p>\n
Tehran – IranView24<\/strong><\/p>\n Speaking about ongoing meetings between the National Olympic Committee (NOC), the Ministry of Sports, and national federations, Rahimi said the discussions are aimed at assessing readiness and clarifying participation criteria rather than confirming final selections.<\/p>\n \u201cAbsolutely no team or athlete has been finalized yet,\u201d Rahimi said. \u201cThese meetings are held to update the federations on their status and to ensure they fully understand the conditions of the Asian Games, including accommodation and the policies of the Ministry of Sports and the NOC.\u201d<\/p>\n Rahimi added that meetings have already been held with nearly all federations, with another round scheduled within the next two months for a final evaluation.<\/p>\n He criticized statements made by some coaches and federation officials following the meetings, saying it was inaccurate to claim guaranteed participation in Nagoya. \u201cWe have clearly reminded them that these sessions do not mean definite participation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n While the final list remains undecided, Rahimi said projections suggest Iran will ultimately dispatch 300 to 350 athletes. He emphasized that Iran\u2019s approach will prioritize quality over quantity, with a strong focus on medal prospects.<\/p>\n \u201cOur priority is medal-winning,\u201d Rahimi said. \u201cWe have told federations that participation will be based on qualitative selection.\u201d He noted that the volleyball and handball federations have expressed interest in fielding squads that include Iranian players based abroad.<\/p>\n Addressing questions about specific teams, including wrestling, volleyball, and football, Rahimi said no exceptions have been made. Regarding the men\u2019s under-23 football team, he confirmed the squad are currently on the initial registration list despite recent poor performances.<\/p>\n \u201cIn our meeting with football federation officials, they pointed out that the top three teams at the Asian Games earn direct Olympic quotas,\u201d Rahimi said. \u201cHowever, the IOC has not yet clarified how Olympic quotas will be allocated.\u201d<\/p>\n He stressed that initial registration does not guarantee participation. \u201cBased on early registrations, nearly 1,000 athletes could theoretically go to Nagoya, but that will not happen in practice,\u201d Rahimi said. \u201cFederations were asked to nominate athletes with even the slightest medal chance for registration purposes, but the final delegation will be significantly reduced in the coming months.\u201d<\/p>\n The 2026 Asian Games will be held in Nagoya and Aichi Prefecture, with Iran expected to finalize its delegation closer to the event.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0Iran plans to send between 300 and 350 athletes to the 2026 Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan, though no team or athlete has been definitively finalized, according to Asghar Rahimi, Iran\u2019s chef de mission for the Games. Tehran – IranView24 Speaking about ongoing meetings between the National Olympic Committee (NOC), the Ministry of Sports, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3075,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[80,81],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","category-iran"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iranview24.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iranview24.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iranview24.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iranview24.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iranview24.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3071"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/iranview24.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3071\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3076,"href":"https:\/\/iranview24.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3071\/revisions\/3076"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iranview24.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iranview24.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iranview24.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iranview24.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}