TEHRAN - Hasan Taftian, the fasters Iranian athlete, will not participate at the 2023 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships, according to the Islamic Republic of Iran Athletic Federation (IRIAF).

The federation also announced that about 10 athletes will participate at the 10th Asian Indoor Athletics Championship, taking place in Astana, Kazakhstan from Feb. 10-12.

The selection of these athletes was based on their performance on the club competitions, in fact the Athletics Federation needs some eligibility requirements for participating in the Asian competitions, which only three athletes managed to meet the requirements in the country's club championships, namely Farzaneh Fasihi and Hamideh Ismailnejad in the 60-meter, and Hamidreza Kia in the triple jump.

Javad Khosroshiri, a member of the technical committee of the IRIAF, said that the federation was supposed to hold a record-setting competition after the end of the Iran athletics league but it was canceled.

“So, we made the final selection based on the performance of the athletes in the country's club competitions,” he said to the reporters.

In the last edition of the event, Iran finished second with 24 medals, including five gold, nine silver, and 10 bronze medals.

When asked about the condition of Hassan Taftian and whether he would participate in the 2023 Asian Indoor Championships, Khosrowshiri said: “We contacted Taftian (who is training in Jamaica right now) and asked him about his schedule. His personal coach's opinion was that he should complete his preparation program and not participate at the 2023 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships.

“His major goal is to earn medal in the 2022 Asian Games. Of course, the Asian Games are more important for the federation as well,” he added.

On 8 July 2017, Taftian became the first Iranian ever to win the gold medal in 100 meters in an Asian Athletics Championships after finishing with a time of 10.25 seconds at the 2017 Asian Athletics Championships in Bhubaneswar, India.