The Referee Committee announced 50 international referees who will judge in events before Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Russian, Turkish, British and Mexican Grand Prix, and, beginning in 2016, will judge Olympic preliminary matches in all five continents, to compete for a place in the list of 30 ultimate referees to judge in the Rio 2016 Olympics. The names of two Iranian taekwondo referees in the list are Shahram Arbabi and Hafez Mahdavi.
WTF held training courses in Mexico, Russia, and the UAE for 300 international referees and through a placement test, it selected 50 referees. In Asian training session in the UAE, Iran’ representatives Abdolreza Bahari, Hafez Mahdavi, Shahram Arbabi, Parvaneh Mohammad Taqi Tehran, and Marjan Taheri participated. From these five referees Arbabi and Mahdavi were qualified for the place in the 50-people list.
Arbabi, who had judged in two Beijin 2008 and London 2012 Olympic Games, is the best Iranian international referee during past few years, and have a higher chance of being in his third round of Olympic Games. Hafez Mahdavi had also shined bright in international competitions especially in Russian World Championship weeks ago in Moscow, to be nominated for the TWF 50-people list.
WTF rules demands that any country have only one referee in the final list of 30 referees for Rio 2016 Olympic and these two Iranian referees will have close rivalry to qualify for the games. 14 female referees will also be selected, which makes the chance of Iranian female referees chances for the ultimate list very feeble.
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