TEHRAN - Iran has sent its top male boxers for the forthcoming 1st World Olympic Boxing Qualifying Event to Busto Arsizio, Italy.

Iran had two qualified boxers in the Tokyo Olympic Games, Danial Shakhbakhsh and Shahin Mousavi and the country has never claimed any boxing medals in the Olympics yet but they made a strong breakthrough in the 2021 World Boxing Championships.

Their team competed in the Asian Games in Hangzhou but the Iranians had to leave the boxing venue without any medals. There are several changes in the team since the unsuccessful Asian Games but all of the selected boxers have international experience from this Olympic cycle.

Iran hired new Cuban coaches to achieve better results in the upcoming two World Olympic Boxing Qualifying Events and their new President has several plans for longer terms.

Their flyweight (51kg) boxer, Mostafa Rigi was born in a boxing family and he joined the elite national team in 2022 following his junior and youth gold medals.

Shakhbakhsh claimed silver medal at the 2021 ASBC Asian Elite Boxing Championships and a bronze at the Belgrade World Boxing Championships in the same year. The 24-year-old boxer is the most successful Iranian boxer in the last 10 years and he is aiming for an Olympic spot at the men’s featherweight (57kg) in Busto Arsizio.

Ali Habibinezhad moved down to the light welterweight (63.5kg) and he earned a bronze medal in the Strandja Memorial Tournament in Bulgaria. Moslem Maghsoudi earned his first national title in 2016 and he competed in several editions of the ASBC Asian Elite Boxing Championships as well, asbcnews.org reported.

Meysam Gheslaghi was one of the main surprises at the 2021 ASBC Asian Elite Boxing Championships in Dubai where the debutant earned a silver medal. He replaced the Olympian Shahin Mousavi at the light heavyweight (80kg) and the strong puncher will be a hard opponent for all of the stars as well.

Iran’s new heavyweight (92kg) boxer will be Hossein Daneshvar who moved up from the light heavyweight (80kg) in the previous months. Iman Ramezanpour is Iran’s best super heavyweight (+92kg) boxer since 2017 and he was quarter-finalists in several top championships during his career.