TEHRAN - Alireza Pakdel, president of the Iran Handball Federation, believes that the National Team’s victory against Chile is a big achievement for the country’s handball.

Iran earned their first-ever win in the 2023 IHF World Men's Handball Championship, beating Chile 25-24 Thursday night.

“We won a hard game, which made the people of Iran happy,” Pakdel said in his interview with Tehran Times.

“This is only the second time we are participating in the World Men's Handball Championship, while Chile are making their eighth appearance in this tournament.

“Considering that three teams from each group will qualify for the next stage, winning the match was crucial for us. Iran won dramatically because, in the last five minutes, we fell behind by three goals. It isn’t easy to battle back in handball. But after that, Iran conceded one goal and scored five to reach a big victory.” he added.

Iran are drawn in Group A along with Spain, Chile, and Montenegro. Pakdel admitted that Iran's next two games are also tough.

“Spain are among the greatest teams in the world with many titles in the Olympics and Europe. On the other hand, over the past few years, Montenegro have been known as a phenomenon in European handball. However, Iran national team will do their best to get good results in two upcoming matches,” said the president of the Iran handball federation.

When asked about Iran’s handball recent successes, Pakdel explained: “When I started my work as the president of the handball federation, handball in our country had suffered a decline for several years due to the instability of the management. In a five-year stint, the federation had seven presidents or acting presidents.

“However, we started planning especially at the junior levels to rebuild the Iranian handball. we did not stop our activities even during the Covid-19 crisis,” Pakdel added.  

Iran made history by winning a gold medal in the 2022 Asian Women's Youth Handball Championship. Iran youth beach team also wrote their name into the history books by booking a place in the 2022 IHF Youth Beach Handball World Championship semifinals.

“All this was the result of the strategic planning of the Iranian handball federation and following the methods of top handball countries of the world.

“The International Handball Federation (IHF) has praised Iran many times in recent years and has a positive attitude toward our country's handball, and this is a source of pride for us,” concluded Pakdel.