TEHRAN – Ali Asghar Ravasi has been named as new head coach of Iran powerlifting team on Sunday.

In a session was held with presence of Hossein Rezazadeh, head of Iran Powerlifting Association, and Mohammad Shervin Asbaghian, president of Iran Sports Federation for the Disabled, Ravasi was appointed as the team’s coach.

Ravasi had already worked as head coach of the Iranian powerlifting team in the 2012 Paralympic Games. He also served as head coach of Iran at the 2018 Asian Para Games.

Now, he has been appointed as head coach of the team once again as replacement for Hossein Tavakoli.

Tavakoli, Sydney 2000 Olympic Games gold medal winner, was supposed to lead the team in the 2020 Paralympic Games but the competitions were postponed due to Covid-19 pandemic.

Siamand Rahman, dubbed as the world's strongest Paralympian, was one of the Iranian powerlifters who was expected to win his third gold at the Paralympic Games in a row but died due to heart attack on March 2.

“We need to inject fresh blood into their ageing squad, because the team’s average age is 34 and it’s not good for a team who wants to compete at the highest level,” Ravasi said.

“Also, we have a difficult task ahead since we have lost Siamand in the super heavyweight division. From now on, we have to find new talented lifters to strengthen our team,” he added.   

Paralympic powerlifting is an adaptation of the sport of powerlifting for athletes with disabilities. The only discipline in Paralympic powerlifting is the bench press.