Iran’s National Wrestling coach Abbas Haj Kenari feels positive about the new pool of wrestlers in the squad. In an interview with the Iran Wrestling Federation, he said, “Personally, I am very optimistic about the new generation of Iranian wrestling”.
“I think it’s a good thing for us and we can do better,” he said of the one-year postponement of the Olympics. Although the situation is very difficult and the wrestlers from other countries are not idle, but I am very optimistic about the young generation of wrestlers, we have invested in them and I personally think that if everything is going well, If we have good training facilities and we can be mentally and emotionally ready, we can get the best results.
Haj Kenari continued: “Of course, in terms of technical staff, no one has been selected, but since we have several good wrestlers in each weight, I think each of them will be selected and wear the national team jersey, they will have a chance to win a medal.”
Currently, there is a complete lockdown in Iran due to the Coronavirus outbreak. The government has shut all the training centres and cancelled all the sporting events. Talking about the conditions of wrestlers’ training, Kenari said: “Currently, the camps are not held, according to the plan given to us by the national team coach.” We have surveillance and about 10 wrestlers have been referred to me, with whom I communicate by telephone and via cyberspace”.
He added: “I am mostly in contact with low weight wrestlers and I have been assigned several wrestlers up to 86 kg.” In connection with them, I check their conditions and increase or decrease the programs accordingly. Due to the fact that I live in the north, I am in close contact with some nationalists, including Reza Atari, Behnam Ehsanpour, Amir Hossein Zare and Hassan Yazdani.
Regarding the current situation of the national team, Haj Kenari stated: “Thank God, everything is great and the wrestlers are following their training well.” Of course, there is more pressure in the training sessions held under the supervision of the technical staff of the national team in the camps, but with the program that we give them through the bodybuilding coach and the head coach of the national team, they do at least one training session individually.
The holder of the World Wrestling Gold and Silver Wrestling medals said about the difference between wrestling during his time on the wrestling mat and said: “The current facilities are not comparable to the past, for example, the bodybuilding equipment that is currently available.” We had less at that time, and I used to do the training exercises with bricks and blocks and running, and we worked harder, but now we have more facilities. Of course, wrestling has its difficulties in any period compared to the conditions of that period, but according to my wrestling style, if I were in this period, I might have wrestled more easily, but it is still not possible to compare the periods.
He added: “The struggles I see now are in the moment of wrestling and I really enjoy seeing it. I myself was someone who wrestled in moments. At the moment, it is not possible for a wrestler to wrestle in the same style. The ship’s speed has increased and we are witnessing an event at any moment. In this case, I can name the Japanese Otogoro. His decisions are instantaneous and very high, and he has good speed in his struggles.
Haj Kenari clarified about the situation due to the outbreak of the coronavirus: Although I do my best to follow the safety and health tips, I left everything to God. The behaviour of people after Corona will change in the world and they will observe most of the health issues and the social distance, and I think this will bring people closer and make them more united on the planet.
