TEHRAN – Mehdi Alinejad, Secretary General of the Iran National Olympic Committee (NOC), says the country’s delegation is expected to perform better than it did at the previous Asian Games, but officials will not reveal a projected medal tally in order to avoid placing additional pressure on the athletes.
Speaking about Iran’s preparations for the 2026 Asian Games in Nagoya, he said the NOC has been closely monitoring athletes’ performances and believes the delegation is in a stronger position than it was ahead of the last edition of the Games.
“Our assessment is that Iran will achieve a better medal performance than in the previous Asian Games,” he said. “We continuously evaluate the preparation and progress of our athletes. Although we have gone through two wars during this period, which affected the training process, our overall situation is still better than it was before the last Asian Games.”
Despite the optimism, the NOC official stressed that no official medal forecast will be made public.
“The Asian Games is a major multi-sport event, and it is impossible to predict the exact number of medals. Unexpected circumstances can always influence the results,” he said. “If we publicly announce a medal target, it could create unnecessary psychological pressure on our athletes. We do not want that to happen, so we have decided not to disclose our projections.”
He added that the committee has internally established realistic expectations based on detailed evaluations but believes it is in the athletes’ best interest to keep those figures confidential.
Asked whether the NOC expects Iran’s U23 football team to challenge for a medal in Nagoya, the Secretary General admitted that the team have fallen short in recent Asian Games but expressed confidence in the current squad.
“The reality is that Iran’s U23 team have not won a medal in the last several editions of the Asian Games,” he said. “However, this team are in a good place. Head coach Hossein Abdi has worked with many of these players for years and is a disciplined coach. His presence gives us confidence that the team will perform well.”
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