Dubai: The Islamic Republic of Iran is confident of shrugging off its reputation tab of being a sleeping giant and staking its claim as the third best nation in multi-discipline sports by the next edition of the Asian Games, to be held in held in Incheon, South Korea, in 2014.

“We started on a course of action some seven years back and the fruit of that hard work showed when we stood fourth in the medals tally with 59 behind China (416), South Korea (232) and Japan (216) at the Guangzhou Asian Games last year. Now it is time to consolidate this position and be at least third in the medals tally by the next Asian Games in South Korea,” Mohammad Ali Abadi, President of the Iran National Olympic Committee and Vice President of the Olympic Council of Asia, told Gulf News during a brief visit to the UAE National Olympic Committee (UAE NOC) Thursday.

Abadi met with Yousuf Al Serkal and Saeed Abdul Ghaffar Hussain, Secretary-General of the UAE National Olympic Committee (UAE NOC), to discuss ways and means of sporting co-operation between the two countries.

Marked improvements

“Very slowly we have been making a marked improvement in sports infrastructure over the past seven years. The next few years are crucial for us to consolidate this position further and show the true potential that Iranian sportspersons hold, first in Asia and then on the international stage,” Abadi added.

The Iran NOC President reiterated that women will play a crucial role in enhancing the position of the country, starting with the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon. “Our work on having women top in their disciplines started off in Guangzhou, where they won 14 medals in all. By the next Asian Games we are targeting 40 medals from women alone and this in turn will ensure we stand third in the medals table behind China and Japan,” he confided.

Exchange programme

The Iranian official welcomed the UAE’s move to create a formal exchange programme between various associations in the two countries, be it among coaches and trainers or the athletes themselves. “We can co-operate in the fields of track and field, football, futsal, taekwondo, karate, shooting, gymnastics and swimming. And such a cooperation will result in a win-win situation for all concerned, be it our two countries, the athletes or sport itself,” noted Al Serkal.

Al Serkal also announced that he would personally lead a high-level delegation to Iran in the near future so as to take this relationship to the next level. “It is important to take things up by a notch and this ought to be done in the very near future. We want to visit Iran and see in which sort of areas we can possibly gain from cooperating with Iran,” Al Serkal said.