20 months after the conclusion of London summer Olympic games 2012, Iran’s National Olympic Committee (NOC) held a ceremony in honor of the Iranian athletes Olympic games medal winners .
In the ceremony attended by many dignitaries, including Iran’s vice-president Dr. Noubakht and Minister of Sport Mahmoud Goudarzi , the athletes received gifts in appreciation of their achievements. London summer Olympic games 2012 recorded the best medal haul for Iran since its first participation in London summer Olympic games in 1948.
The minister of youth and sports , Mahmoud Goudarzi in an exclusive interview with Iranian Students News Agency ( ISNA ) , commenting on the the ceremony, said “the main objective of organizing this gathering , was organizing a major sports event as well as meeting and honoring of Olympic medal winners and that was a good thing. We applaud NOC for holding such ceremony. We were honored to be present at the event and thank the heroes of Iran who were exemplary representatives and true credits for the sport and their country.”
Commenting on Vice-President attendance at the ceremony , the Minster highlighted the objective of one of the highest government ranks in the country to be among the athletes and sport administrators, is to see for himself the current status and the needs of sport.
“Tonight’s ceremony was attended by Dr. Noubakht , which was a positive move. The Vice-President was well briefed about some of the problems and shortcomings facing the various sports and also to get to know the athletes closely and keep in touch with them . Dr. Noubakht promised to help solve the country’s sport problems.”
On the program of Team Melli , the minster said ” We have special programs for successful participation of our national team in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. God willing, we are looking forward for a successful participation and honorable representation of the Iranian people who look up to this team . Some people say that I do not care much for football . I do not accept that at all. It is completely false.”
“When it comes to financial support , I have to tell you all that the government will NOT finance clubs to create football billionaires. We are not interested in that aspect. The income of the rich footballers that the fans are aware of , the money exchanged in the clubs for transfer of players, has not come from the government coffers.T he government does not create football Billionaires, I can assure of that. Some other supporters perhaps pour money into the clubs to buy players or take care of their wages. We at governmental level , cannot and will not afford that.”
“We have to face reality. Football is the most popular sport in the world including our own country, The support has to be appropriate but not on the expense of other sports. It is our firm policy to support all sport , especially those that bring us honor at international levels.”
Asked about the future and privatization of Esteghlal and Persepolis , the Minister got agitated and responded “Why do you keep asking about Persepolis and Esteghlal all the time ? Why not Sanat Naft, Tractorsazi , Damash Gilan? these teams need your attention as well (!!!)”
So, the the honorable minister of youth and sport , cleverly avoided the question that has been on every fans mind since the last President Ahmadinejad promised , which is the timescale of these 2 popular clubs privatization.