TEHRAN – Javad Foroughi and Nahid Kiani have been named as flagbearers of Iran for the 2022 Asian Games by Iran’s National Olympic Committee (NOC).

Foroughi became the oldest Iranian athlete to win an Olympic medal, earning gold in men's 10-meter air pistol in the 2022 Olympics in Tokyo.

The 43-year-old Foroughi surpassed weightlifter Mahmoud Namdjou, who was 38 when he took bronze at the 1956 Melbourne Games.

It was Iran’s first medal in shooting in the history of Olympics.

Kiani is also the first Iranian woman taekwondo athlete to win a gold medal in the history of the World Championships.

She claimed the gold at the 2023 World Taekwondo Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan in early June.

The 2022 Asian Games will be held at Hangzhou, China, from Sept. 23 to Oct. 8. The 15-day-long continental showpiece, which shifted from 2022 to 2023 due to COVID-19, will feature 40 sports, with Asia’s best competing for top honors.

The national teams can appoint a man and a woman as their flagbearers at the opening ceremony to send a message of gender parity.