TEHRAN The Iranian national judo team returned home Thursday morning, where the team members were interviewed by the TEHRAN TIMES. The Iranian team finished fourth in the international competition, which was held in the German city of Munich.

Iranian Arash Mir-Esmaeli won a gold medal and Mahmoud Miran won a bronze medal for the Iranian team during the event.

Talking to the TEHRAN TIMES, the head coach of the Iranian national judo team said that the competitions were very close and that even some international figures and holders of Olympic medals did not do well.

"The Iranian team was ready and trained well. Therefore, we hoped that every Iranian judoka would win a medal. All members of the team made their best effort and struggled till the last moment," he said. Bronze medal winner Mahmoud Miran told the TEHRAN TIMES that there was fierce competition in the 100+kg division. Explaining the reason for his loss to the Russian rival, which caused him to lose a chance at the gold medal, he said that he did not know the competitor since he had very recently joined the Russian national team.

Also talking to the TEHRAN TIMES, 66-kg division gold medal winner Arash Mir-Esmaeli also said that the competition was fierce. He said that hoped that his medal would be a harbinger for further Iranian achievements in world judo competitions.

Hamed Malek-Mohammadi, another Iranian competitor, who lost a chance of winning a medal by refusing to battle with an Israeli rival, told the TEHRAN TIMES that he could have beaten his other rivals and won the gold medal if he didn't had to compete with the Zionist judoka. He added that this had been the second time that he had been assigned an Israeli rival in his group, saying that his failures were due to bad luck rather than a bad performance.

Massoud Akhoondzadeh and Kazem Sarikhani told the TEHRAN TIMES that they had good systematic practices in the Iranian team, while Abbas Fallah said his defeat was due to his irregular attendance of team practices.