On 17 January 2023 in Tehran Sergey Shishkarev met with Seyed Hamid Sajjadi, Minister of Sport and Youth of Iran. The meeting was also attended by Igor Levitin, the assistant to the President of the Russian Federation and the first vice-president of the Russian Olympic Committee.
The participants discussed issues of interaction in the field of sport and handball itself. In particular, the sides considered the possibility of holding friendly games between the men's handball national teams of the two countries. The Iranians are now playing in the World Cup, where they were able to reach the main round of the tournament. In addition, the Minister of Sport and Youth of Iran has invited the Russian women's team to take part in a friendly tournament, where the national teams of the former Soviet republics are also expected to play.
Sergey Shishkarev and Seyed Hamid Sajjadi also discussed interaction in the field of scientific and methodological support, exchange of coaching staff, marketing, issues of friendly games of children's teams, youth and youth national teams of Russia and Iran.
"In the context of restrictions on Russian national teams and clubs, it is important to find new opportunities to maintain a high level of competition. And this requires strong sparring partners. I find cooperation with Iran very interesting and promising. The men's national team of this country performs with dignity at the World Championships and has already left the group to the main round, on which I congratulated Mr. Sejjadi. Women's handball in Iran is not progressing that fast yet, but the leadership is planning to work on it seriously and soon to make a step forward. I think our meeting with Seyed Hamid Sejjadi was constructive and useful for both sides. We will consistently work on several priority areas and achieve success in our handball cooperation," - said Sergey Shishkarev.