TEHRAN – President of International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Sebastian Coe says that he is pleased with progress of Iranian women in athletics.

In a virtual meeting held on Thursday, Coe and Hashem Siami, head of Iran Athletics Federation, discussed various issues related to the sport in the west Asian country.

At the beginning of the meeting, Siami congratulated Coe on arrival of New Year, wishing him the best of luck in the future.

“Geographically, our country has so many athletes in the North, Center and South, who are talented in throwing, sprints and endurance running and should be discovered. For this purpose, we have set up a zonal talent identification,” Siami said.

Coe also lauded the Iranian federation in terms of what it has done for promoting the sport.

“Our priority is to train a new generation who can shine in the athletics. Our strategic plan is based on training the athletes and I found out that Iran is working well in this regard,” the Briton said.

“You take a big step forward in development of the athletics and want to attract more people to promote the sport for the Olympics. I am confident that with the right planning and existing potentials, Iran can make athletics the most popular sport in the country,” Coe stated.

“We will do our best to help the countries facing financial crisis due to sanctions. We want to help Iran by supplying the equipment, despite the problems caused by the sanctions,” he added.

Emphasizing that gender equality is a key to success to women’s progress, Coe said, “We are very happy to see Iran paves the way for the country’s women to develop and we will help the countries to provide the environment for their women.”   

At the end of the session, Siami invited Coe to travel to Iran to see the country’s capabilities in the athletics and the IAAF President promised that he will visit Iran as soon as the pandemic ends.