TEHRAN – Iranian handball teams have stolen the show over the past years by booking their places in the Asian and World Championships.

Less than three months ago, Iran made history by beating France in bronze medal match of the 2022 IHF Youth Beach Handball World Championship.

It was Iran’s first ever medal in the world stage.

Shortly after, the Iranian team represented the country in the IHF Women's Youth World Championship.

Handball in Iran has been on the rise in the past years, both on the men’s and the women’s sides.

After their maiden appearance at the IHF Men’s World Championship in 2015, an eight-year hiatus followed, but Iran will finally make their long-awaited comeback at the competition at Poland/Sweden 2023, after finishing fourth at the AHF Asian Men’s Handball Championship in 2022.

“One of the most important ideas of Iran Handball Federation is to raise a generation of great handball players of Iranian children, to develop their future and create a great team in our country,” head of Iran handball federation Alireza Pakdel said in an interview with IHF.info in late July.

“The federation has already planned to create some programs throughout the entire country, enabling children to be more and more interested in handball. The idea is to promote handball as a fun activity to usher the children to try and play handball, while also creating the proper environment for their families,” he added.

Three days ago, Iran won a silver medal in the 2022 Asian Men's Youth Handball Championship. The Team booked their place at the 2023 Men's Youth World Handball Championship in Croatia as well.

The Iranian women will also participate in the 2022 Asian Women's Handball Championship in November, where they have been drawn in Group A along with Republic of Korea, Uzbekistan, India and Australia.

“Many stars in other sports in Iran, like our football players, which have a huge following, are promoting handball in their social media accounts. People are cherishing our players of national handball teams in Instagram and Twitter. They see how Iranian players are doing their best,” Pakdel concluded.

Pakdel took charge of the Iranian federation in 2019 and has played a key role in the sport’s success during his tenure.

Nowadays, the Iranian teams are not afraid of South Korea and Persian Gulf countries. They have been transformed into the heavyweights in Asia and want to achieve more success in the world stage.