According to the Weightlifting Federation’s public relations report, Mohammad Jaloud, the president of the World Weightlifting Federation, who came to Iran to watch the sixth edition of the Fajr Cup International Competition, stated in a press conference held this afternoon (Friday) at the Weightlifting Federation’s premises: “I thank the Iranian weightlifting family for holding this event. This hosting was formed in a short period of time and was completed after coordination with the Iranian National Weightlifting Federation. Although the time was short, we had good results and Uzbekistan, Iran and other countries had close competition. It was important for Iran to hold an event and the records recorded could even be better.”

Regarding his meeting yesterday with the Minister of Sports and the issue of Iran hosting one of the Olympic qualifying rounds, he said: “We had a good meeting. The Minister is very interested in Iran hosting major competitions. Some suggestions were also made. Iran has the capacity to host major competitions and we support it. It was decided that one of the Olympic qualifying hosts in the Asian continent would be given to Iran. This will cost money and an initial estimate was made, but we need to visit a few other countries as well.”

In this regard, Sajjad Anoushirvani, the head of our country’s Weightlifting Federation, noted: “Given the holding of competitions in the women’s section, it was also agreed that the World Weightlifting Federation would help resolve the issue and ultimately host a major event.”

Jellod reminded about the Olympic selection system: “We had a number of weaknesses in the Paris Olympic selection that we are trying to fix for the next edition in Los Angeles. In the previous edition, if a weightlifter did not participate in several competitions, he would not receive a quota. Now, the grouping of different weights is in six categories and will start from August next year. Weightlifters must participate in five events out of the 10 specified events. Countries can have three people in six weights and in each of the men’s and women’s divisions. Each of them must participate in five events and the average of the records is taken into account to receive a quota.”

Finally, 10 people will receive quotas for each weight category, while there were 12 for the Paris Olympics. I am very optimistic that Iranian women weightlifters will be able to participate in the Olympics and win all three quotas and even stand on the podium.

In response to the question, “The World Anti-Doping Agency is active in some countries and not in others. Is there supervision and coordination between this agency and the World Federation?”, he emphasized: “We have contracts with organizations related to the fight against doping. ITA (an organization that, in coordination with WADA, collects doping from athletes) is dependent on our program, but it operates independently. They go and control equally in all countries. After the London Olympics to the Paris Olympics, when doping reached zero, WADA praised the World Weightlifting Federation. Anyway, now these 10 selections are being held in a period of less than two years and three months before the Los Angeles Olympics, and the weightlifters are under surveillance.

The president of the World Weightlifting Federation also stated: “I have special respect for Iranian weightlifting and I believe that Iran will bring more glory in Los Angeles.” Regarding the differences between this edition of the Fajr Cup and the previous edition held 10 years ago, Jellood said: “Nothing has changed, only the level of Iranian weightlifters has risen greatly.”