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There is no about that vast opportunities exist for boosting cooperation between Iran and Pakistan in the fields of sports.
The Islamic Republic of Iran enjoys good reputation in sports at the international level and the Iranian players have performed extremely well in different international sports competitions.
Pakistan being neighbor of Iran can benefit from the experience of the Islamic Republic in the field of sports.
Last year Iranian tennis team visited Pakistan to play Davis Cup in Islamabad which opened a new chapter of cooperation between the two countries in sports sector. Pakistan hosted the international tennis event after twelve years.
This year in month of May Iranian Kabaddi players visited Pakistan to participate in Super Kabaddi League.
Another example of close cooperation between Iran and Pakistan in sport sector is that an Iranian coach Hamid Movahedi is training Pakistani senior and junior volleyball teams.
Another important development in this regards is that Iranian boxing coach Dawood Namini is currently training Pakistani boxers at Amir Khan Boxing Academy in Islamabad. Dawood Namini has been training Pakistani players for last 16 years.
Talking to IRNA Dawood Namini said that he came to Pakistan 16 years ago to move to Europe for better employment opportunities but stayed here after seeing healthy sports environment in the country.
“I established a football academy in Islamabad in the year 2004 and later with the assistance of education department of Pakistan I managed to take over the control of a football ground,” he said.
The Iranian coach further said that in 2007 he also opened a boxing academy in Islamabad.
He went on to say that when the Pakistan boxing federation knew about his boxing academy the officials of the federation visited his academy and requested to provide training facilities to Pakistani boxers.
Dawood Namini said that in 2011 his trained Pakistani boxers who performed very well at international and local competition and won many medals.
He was of the view that close cooperation between Iran and Pakistan in sports sector could also play an important role in further enhancing bilateral economic and political ties.
He regretted that despite strong ties between the two countries their cooperation in sports sector is well below potential.
The coach opined that to enhance their sorts cooperation Iran and Pakistan must cooperate with each other and conduct different joint competitions of boxing, volleyball and wrestling along with holding joint training camps.
He said that Iran and Pakistan can also cooperate with each other in sports goods industry as Pakistani city of Sialkot is famous around the world for making high quality sports equipment.
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