TEHRAN (Press TV) - Iran’s national flags were presented to flag bearers Zahra Kiani and Fazel Atrachali ahead of the 20th Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026.
The ceremony was held at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad on Saturday, with Sports and Youth Minister Ahmad Donyamali, National Olympic Committee officials and other sports authorities in attendance.
Kiani, the Asian wushu champion, and Atrachali, captain of Iran’s national kabaddi team, received the Iranian flags during a ceremony that also featured the recitation of the athletes’ oath.
The Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games will be held from Sept. 19 to Oct. 4, with athletes from 45 Asian countries and regions expected to compete. The official program lists 43 sports across 53 competition venues.
Donyamali said Iran had spent the past two years preparing its delegation and maintaining national-team training camps to ensure preparations continued without interruption.
The sporting community could provide a source of encouragement for the Iranian public after difficult months, he said, pointing to the US-Israeli aggression against Iran since late February.
Also present in the ceremony were families of innocent children massacred in US-Israeli attacks on Shajare Tayyebeh School in Minab on the first day of the war. Donyamali said these families have been designated as the “spiritual guardians” of Iran’s delegation.
“We believe that sport can inspire hope and that our successes can make the people happy and proud,” the minister said.
Donyamali also highlighted the participation of women in Iran’s delegation. He said around 100 female athletes would compete in Aichi-Nagoya, accounting for roughly one-third of the Iranian team — a substantial increase from previous Asian Games.
Iran had earlier announced its delegation will compete under the name “Sacrificing Our Lives for a Strong Iran”, with the slogan “In Memory of the Children of Hiroshima, Gaza and Minab.”
The minister recalled that Iran sent only 15 female athletes to the 2006 Asian Games in Doha. The current delegation, according to Iranian Olympic officials, comprises 308 athletes — 214 men and 94 women.
Donyamali said Iran had also sought to enter athletes in sports where the country has less experience or fewer medal prospects.
“In some sports where we have fewer medal chances and less experience, the decision has been to send at least one female and one male athlete so that the flag of Iran can also be raised at the venues of those events,” he said.
He added that broader participation could help create a foundation for greater investment and long-term development in those sports.
The minister expressed confidence that Iran’s delegation would produce strong results in Japan.
“Based on the planning that has been carried out, I can tell the Iranian people in advance that they will hear good news from our delegation at the Asian Games, particularly in many sports,” Donyamali said.
Kiani and Atrachali will lead Iran’s delegation at the opening ceremony in Nagoya, continuing a joint male-and-female flag-bearing tradition.
In the 2022 edition of the event in Hangzhou, China, the Iranian delegation won 13 gold, 21 silver, and 20 bronze medals, finishing 7th in the overall medal table.