The priority of the federation is to hire a world-class coach, Secretary of Iranian Volleyball Federation Milad Taghavi told Mehr News Agency on Wednesday.
He noted that the federation is not focusing on just one or two names and will negotiate with numerous coaches.
When asked to give some names that the body is negotiating with, Taghavi said “[Russian Vladimir] Alekno, [Brazilian Bernardo] Rezende, and [Argentinian Julio] Velasco are among best coaches in the world but there are also some other names on the table. We will negotiate with all of them.” He also said that none of the candidates can be considered as ‘serious’ yet.
Asked whether Rezende has rejected Iran’s offer, the official said that he is not informed on the issue. “[Head of Iran Volleyball Federation] Davarzani is directly conducting negotiations ... all the related news will be announced by him,” Taghavi highlighted.
The Iranian team has been without a coach since April after the federation decided to part ways with Igor Kolakovic. His contract had been penned till the end of the 2020 Olympics but as the major event has been postponed for a year and national events are in a state of limbo due to the pandemic, the federation decided to terminate the agreement with mutual consent.
Iran has been drawn in Pool A of the Tokyo Olympics along with Japan, Poland, Italy, Canada, and Venezuela. According to the timetable, Iran will begin the campaign in Tokyo with a match against the 2018 world champion Poland on July 24.
Iran debuted in the 2016 Olympic Games where the Persians finished in fifth place behind Brazil, Italy, the US, and Russia.
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