Iran’s Athletes Can Help to Counter Iranophobia: President Rouhani

“Professional games and sports and championships bring national glories and will promote and introduce our country’s identity and culture to the world,” the president said Sunday at a gathering of Iranian athletes in Tehran.

“If combined with Islamic and humanitarian morality, championship sports can do away with all Iranophobia propaganda spread in the world and portray the real image of Iran and Iranians,” he added.

The president also hailed a unique feature of Iran in sports events, namely the participation of female athletes in games while observing the Islamic code of dressing and wearing hijab.

All female athletes representing the Islamic Republic attend sports events with hijab. Moreover, Iranian medal-winners refuse to shake hands with the opposite sex, a move prohibited under Islamic teachings.

Back in January, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei admired Iranian athletes who safeguard religious and moral values in sports events, irrespective of the delusive wave that may prevail in the inteational arenas.

Iranian athletes who explicitly safeguard the values in the championship games do a valued deed, Ayatollah Khamenei said, pointing to competitors who ask for help from God or prostrate themselves after winning a match.

What is even worthier than standing on the championship stage or raising of the country’s flag is an Iranian athlete’s refusal to wrestle with a Zionist Israeli opponent or a female athlete’s decision to attend the medal award ceremony with hijab, Imam Khamenei underlined.