TEHRAN Iran's National Karate team can rank fifth in the world and enjoys high technique beside being unique in terms of morality, Ali Yousef Nezhad, Official in charge of Karate Board of North-West of Tehran, quoted the President of the International Karate Federation as saying. In an exclusive interview with Tehran Times, Yousef Nezhad 39 years old, said when Karate found its way into Iran in 1963, only 30 people practised it and that furtively.

He said Karate federation was officially declared in 1973 by Mr. Varasteh. Yousef Nezhad, black belt Dan grade 3 in Shitoryo, said today however there are some one million people practising karate across Iran. He told us about the growing interest of the young adults in learning martial arts and said the tournaments held in West Asia in Tehran indicated that Iranian young karatekas can guarantee Iran's world championship in the future.

Married with two daughters one with black and the younger brown belts, Yousef Nezhad said that mass media coverage of martial arts is not sufficient and called on the concerned officials to give greater attention to martial arts. The first gold medal was obtained by Mahdi Amozadeh from Iran in the world contests held in Africa in 1997, with participants from 92 countries.

He said Iran's young karatekas in Malaysia ranked first among participants from 45 countries in 1997. Yousef Nezhad said in 1997 Iran's national karate squad participated in six world tournaments and obtained gold and bronze medals, stressing that Iran's Karate Federation should provide greater facilities for the Iranian youth practising karate.