Iran national baseball team

Iran baseball committee was founded in 1992 by Mohammad Bagher Zolfagharian. In 1993 it became a federation and continued to function as a federation until 2010, when it became part of Sports Associations Federation. This was largely caused by the inactivity of its national team due to the fact that there were not enough teams in the Middle East to play against and gain experience and also the team not being strong enough to play against the elite teams of East Asia.

Currently Baseball is played in 12 Provinces in Iran with the potential for many more if helped with the problem of shortage of equipment. Iran has one stadium specifically designed for baseball in the city of Karaj, but other cities for the most part use soccer fields for official games and practice sessions.

From 1994 until 2009, every year teams representing their provinces participated in a national championship with Tehran (10), Bushehr and Isfahan (2 each) and Kerman (1) splitting the championship trophies.

In 2010, the National Championship games were replaced by a Club Championship League. Club teams were split into a North and South conference with the top two teams in each conference advancing to the playoffs. Since the inception of this league, Tehran's Azarakhsh Club, Bushehr's Naderi Club and Kerman's Mes Club have been able to each win 1 championship.[1]

Iran's national team has participated in 5 Asia Cups (1999, 2006, 2012, 2013 and 2015) and has been able to win the silver medal and bronze medal in the Western Division in 2012 and 2015.

• Team Manager: Kashef Rana (Tehran)
• Head Coach: vacant
• Coach: Payam Shokat Sadri (Kish)
• Coach: Seyed Ali Emamzadeh (Bushehr)
• Assistant Coach: Amir Bakhtiari Laghab (Bushehr)
• Assistant Coach: Farid Farhadi (Qom)
• Physical Trainer: Mohammad Mehdi Rafiei (Markazi)

The most notable baseballer of partial Iranian origin is Yu Darvish who was born in Japan to a Japanese mother but has an Iranian father and plays in MLB, although he has not yet received an invitation to the national team.

Pos. Number Player Date of birth (age) Club Moein Hassani Kerman Nima Bagherinia Isfahan Rajabali Barzegar Semnan Ali bahram masiri Hormozgan Kaveh Chah Bejari Bushehr Abtin Nakhjavanpour Alborz Mohammad Goodarzi Alborz Mehran Sajjadpour Alborz Davoud Jabari Alborz Mojtaba Gordan Semnan Mohammad Ali Kalantari Semnan Jalal Changizi Semnan Jalil Changizi Semnan Iman Khaligh Saket Gilan Hamid Mohammadi Gilan {{national baseball squad player|pos|no|name=Amir Khaligh Saket|age|clubnat=IRN|club=Gilan|other}} Kian Naddafi Gilan Reham Borhani Gilan Amirmohammad pirasteh Alborz Ahmadreza Derayesh Isfahan Keivan Rana Bushehr Yasin Sharifi Ziyarati Bushehr Yasser Sedighipour Isfahan Mohammad Hossein Safdari Qom Hessam Arefzadeh Bushehr Reza Shabani Bushehr Armin Gharibi Bushehr Mehdi Vaezzadeh Bushehr Mehdi Masoumi Bushehr Amir Bazhvand Tehran Mehrdad Bushehr Mohsen Mohammadi Bushehr Majid Mohammadi Senej Qom Seyed Abdollah Mohimian Azad Bushehr Nima Vaghari Khorasan Razavi Mohammad Reza Arabi Khorasan Razavi Reza Yousefi Khorasan Razavi {{national baseball squad Managerial history Mehrdad Hajian, pre-2009 Gerardo Yassel Cabrera Moreno, January 2009[2] Julio Alberto Hernandez Coste, April 2009[3][4] Mehrdad Hajian, 2012-2014[5][6] Toma Irokawa, January 2015-July 2015[7][8][9][10] Tournament history Asian Baseball Cup Host/Year Round/Rank 1995, Manila Did not enter 1997, Bangkok Did not enter 1999, Chandigarh Participated 2001, Jakarta Did not enter 2002, Bangkok Did not enter 2004, Bangkok Did not enter 2006, Rawalpindi 5th (out of 5 teams) 2009, Bangkok Did not enter 2010, Islamabad Did not enter 2012, Lahore Third place[11] 2013, Lahore Did not enter 2015, Islamabad Runner-up 2015, Islamabad Third place Presidential Cup 2015 Presidential Cup was an international tournament hosted by Iran, it was played from September 9–13 at Azadi Sport Complex which was won by India, other participants were Iraq [12] Host/Year Round/Rank 2015, Tehran Runner-up Achievements Asian Baseball Cup - Western Division 2012 : 3rd 2015 : 2nd 2017 : 3rd Iran Presidential Cup 2015 : 2nd Recent fixtures and results 2013 Results[13] 27 July Georgia vs Iran series – Game 1 Georgia  13–5 Iran Merani Sports Complex 29 July Georgia vs Iran series – Game 2 Georgia  15–8 Iran Shatili Sports Complex 31 July Georgia vs Iran series – Game 3 Georgia  21–5 Iran Shatili Sports Complex 2015 Results 24 February Iran vs India – Asian Baseball Cup Western Division Iran  15-0 India  Jinnah Sports Stadium 26 February Pakistan vs Iran – Asian Baseball Cup Western Division Pakistan  12-0 Iran Jinnah Sports Stadium 27 February Iran vs Iraq – Asian Baseball Cup Western Division Iran  18-4 Iraq  Jinnah Sports Stadium September 2015 Iran vs Iraq – Presidential Cup Iran  ?-? Iraq  Azadi Sport Complex September 2015 Iran vs Afghanistan – Presidential Cup Iran  ?-? Afghanistan  Azadi Sport Complex 13 September 2015 Iran vs India – Presidential Cup Iran  10-11 India  Azadi Sport Complex References http://www.baseballasia.org/BFA/include/index.php?Page=9-1-9 http://www.payvand.com/news/09/jan/1301.html "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 18 August 2016. Retrieved 31 July 2016.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 17 September 2016. Retrieved 31 July 2016.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) http://www.mehrnews.com/news/862236/%D9%87%D8%B1%D9%86%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%AF%D8%B2-%D8%B3%D8%B1%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%A8%DB%8C-%D8%AA%DB%8C%D9%85-%D9%85%D9%84%DB%8C-%D8%A8%DB%8C%D8%B3-%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%84-%D8%A7%DB%8C%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%B4%D8%AF http://elvatra.com/post/1519-%d9%85%d9%87%d8%b1%d8%af%d8%a7%d8%af-%d8%ad%d8%a7%d8%ac%db%8c%d8%a7%d9%86-%d9%85%d8%b1%d8%a8%db%8c-%d8%aa%db%8c%d9%85-%d9%85%d9%84%db%8c-%d8%a8%db%8c%d8%b3-%d8%a8%d8%a7%d9%84-%d9%88-%d9%be%d8%af%d8%b1-%d8%a8%db%8c%d8%b3-%d8%a8%d8%a7%d9%84-%d8%a7%db%8c%d8%b1%d8%a7%d9%86-%d8%a8%d9%87-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%88%d8%a7%d8%aa%d8%b1%d8%a7-%d9%be%db%8c%d9%88%d8%b3%d8%aa https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/baseball-in-iran-is-more-like-the-bad-news-bears-than-the-major-leagues/2014/07/16/767f8752-3ea8-4b96-9198-e44136771a25_story.html http://www.baseballasia.org/BFA/include/index.php?Page=2&news01=21114617554a263e51c98c http://baseballdeworld.com/2015/01/07/iran-toma-irokawa-manage-national-team/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zq1bTZnaisI http://www.mehrnews.com/news/2285996/%DB%8C%DA%A9-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%A8%DB%8C-%DA%98%D8%A7%D9%BE%D9%86%DB%8C-%D9%87%D8%AF%D8%A7%DB%8C%D8%AA-%D8%A8%DB%8C%D8%B3-%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%84-%D9%86%D9%88%D8%AC%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%A7%DB%8C%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%B1%D8%A7-%D8%A8%D8%B1-%D8%B9%D9%87%D8%AF%D9%87-%D9%85%DB%8C-%DA%AF%DB%8C%D8%B1%D8%AF http://www.baseballasia.org/BFA/include/index.php?Page=1-1 http://www.sportskeeda.com/baseball/indian-baseball-team-create-history-iran-win-first-ever-gold http://msy.gov.ge/index.php?lang_id=ENG&sec_id=152&info_id=9257