The opening ceremony of the 32nd Olympic Games was held in Tokyo at 8 pm local time, and the Iranian athletes paraded as the 21st delegation.
Athletes paraded in a near-empty stadium as the coronavirus cases continue to rise and the spectators cannot watch the games at venues at this edition.
The outfits of the Iranian team were the same formal uniform unveiled at the departure ceremony, which had sparked sharp criticisms against the design and colour of the women athletes’ uniform.
Unlike the previous rounds, no federation president was present in the Iranian parade team.
12 members of the men’s basketball team , Hanieh Rostamian and Najmeh Khedmati from the shooting team, Mirhashem Hosseini and Nahid Kiani from taekwondo, Daniel Shahbakhsh and Shahin Mousavi from boxing, Nazanin Mollai from rowing, Soraya Aghaie from badminton, Nasrollah Sajjadi, head of Iran’s Delegation in Olympics, Elham Hashemi, head coach of Shooting Team and Mahrou Kamrani, Head coach of women’s taekwondo, Afshin Farzam, head coach of rowing, Alireza Estaki, head coach of boxing, and Jamil Lotfollah Nasabi, head coach of table tennis attended the parade.
Tokyo 2020 Olympics will be held as of July 23 till August 8 after a one-year delay due to pandemic.
The Islamic Republic stood at 25th place at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, with three gold medals, one silver and four bronzes.
