TEHRAN – Head coach of Iran’s men’s wheelchair basketball team, Mohammadreza Dastyar, says that the sport needs long-term plan if they want to participate in the Paralympic Games.

Iran failed to reach 2024 Paralympic Games after suffering three losses at 2024 IWBF Men's Repechage.

Team Melli just defeated Canada in the eight-team tournament.

“We were supposed to hold a training camp in Turkey but we were forced to travel to France without enough preparatory. We had arranged two warm-up matches with Galatasaray and Besiktas but the camp was canceled after Turkish Airline stated that it could not provide services to wheelchair passengers,” Dastyar said.

“The Disabled Federation cooperated with the team in every possible way, but we missed our camp in Turkey and went straight to France. In my opinion, the behavior of the airline wasn't logical, but anyway, this is what happened and we need to stay positive and keep going,” he added.

“There were eight teams in this tournament that they were very well prepared. For instance, Colombia stole the show in Group B and appeared at an unpredictable level. Unfortunately, for the reasons I mentioned, we could not go to France fully prepared.

“In the game against France, we could have turned the game in our favor in the last seven seconds, but unfortunately did not happen. The late addition of some players to the team made it difficult for us. In the match against the Netherlands, we had analyzed them but they went beyond expectations. In the game against Canada, we managed to win but we did not perform well against Germany in our last match,” Dastyar added.

In the end, the head coach said some experts said the failure shows the fundamental changes should be made, but if they want to succeed, they must have a long-term plan.

“We need to form a youth team, so they can achieve success in future in the Asian, World and Paralympics. Our sitting volleyball team, headed by Mr. Hadi Rezaei, is a good example of long-term plan. Mr. Rezaei has always been supported by the officials until they reached the position they are,” Dastyar concluded.