Decline of Iranian Handball: From Silver Medal to Elimination Among 8 Teams; Costly Tens of Billions to Test the Team at Asian Games

Iranian handball has experienced a decline in the last four Asian Games editions, raising questions; it seems these Games have become a venue for testing and preparing this team.

According to sports journalist Safir Arjan, the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games ended while the quality performance of the caravan may have improved compared to the previous period, but the improvement of medal quality does not mean that there were no problems. The problems that affect the performance of some federations that have not only made no progress in recent years, but are on the verge of falling.

Regardless of the fact that some disciplines, such as wrestling, always suffer from a lack of medals, there were also some disciplines that performed impressively or were able to increase their quality compared to the previous period. Including rowing, which is a newly established federation in Iran, and did an exceptional job with 2 gold, 3 silver and one bronze, karate and taekwondo, which won two golds, and weightlifting, which won only one silver in the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, had an acceptable performance with two golds and two bronzes, and even gymnastics, which won two silvers.

In between, there are other disciplines that got results as expected or simply met the expectation of a medal. including volleyball, basketball, cross country, athletics, rock climbing or electronic games whose medals were as expected. However, some disciplines not only did not meet the expectation, but their quality level raised an important question, why these disciplines do not progress?

Iran in the Asian Games from Hangzhou to Nagoya; The dishonor of wrestling and rowing, the decline of wushu and the dishonor of judo

The national handball team was one of those teams whose performance was criticized in the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games. The team, which reached the finals at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou and won the silver medal, has been on a downward spiral in the last four editions. The fourth place in the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon 2014, the fifth place in the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games, and the sixth place in the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games clearly shows what has happened to Iran's handball. In the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Games, the national handball team was also eliminated in the quarter-final stage and got a disastrous result.

Interestingly, the women's national handball team was also a candidate for sending in both periods; However, as Mahdi Alinejad, the secretary of the National Olympic Committee stated in his press conference, in the end, Alireza Pakdel, the head of the handball federation, decided to send the men's team, but not the women's team. At the same time, the progress of Iranian women's medals in the recent Asian Games as well as the games of Islamic countries shows that investment in the women's sector is accompanied by results. That too in a situation where the women's national handball team went on the podium in the games of Islamic countries and the men's handball did not reach a result. However, Pakdel's serious question is how did he come to the conclusion that men's handball will be sent but not women's handball?

Before the solidarity games of Islamic countries in Riyadh, the Iranian men's national handball team reached an unexpected result and withdrew from the competition, while the women won the bronze medal, but no one paid attention to this warning. Not in the joint evaluation sessions of the National Olympic Committee and the Ministry of Sports and Youth, nor the federation itself, which, according to Mehdi Alinejad, concluded that women were excluded and men sent.

Of course, it seems that the Handball Federation has looked at the Asian Games as an experiment; Where, after the solidarity games of the Islamic countries, changes were made on the bench of the men's national team, and Rafael Castillo took the place of Nenad Klaich. An action that took place a few weeks before being sent to Nagoya, and it was natural that the new head coach could not implement his plans. Therefore, obviously, the handball federation has sent the national team to the Asian Games, which I wish was not included in the evaluations. That too, in a situation where Pakdel is also on the executive board of the National Olympic Committee and was obliged to pay for the waste of several tens of billions that were spent on sending handball. Just as disciplines such as weightlifting or athletics refused to send people who had a lower chance of winning a medal. That too in the situation that the Legionnaire players did not accompany their teammates and the chance of winning a medal was reduced by itself.

The repetition of handball failures, which went from the silver medal of the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou to the fourth, fifth, sixth and elimination among the eight teams, should be seriously thought about. Naturally, simply not sending players is not the solution, and this situation shows that handball is on the decline, and the structure of this federation must be seriously thought about. A team that has moved further and further away from the Asian Games platform in the last four seasons, and this situation has made Iran handball a safe team in Asia.