Iranian Navy Army Preview: Shameli Aiming For More Success On Home Soil

The first event of this week’s action on the Challenger Tour will be the Commemoration of the Martyrs of the Iranian Navy Army, which will take place from Tuesday, March 1 to Friday, March 4 in Tehran, Iran.

The Challenger 3 level tournament will feature a mainly Iranian field, with 12 men playing on home soil. India’s Navaneeth Prabhu will also be joined by Iraq’s Hasanain Dakheel and Abdullah Hashim, as the other members of the draw.

Iranian No.1 Alireza Shameli will be the top seed for the Challenger 3 level event, and we spoke to the 22-year-old ahead of the tournament. He is happy to be playing again, having trained well in the last few months.

“Right now, actually I’m really happy to be able to play in tournaments and I have had some good training sessions in the last month. I’m now ready to participate in more PSA tournaments and increase my PSA titles,” Shameli explained.

The Iranian No.1 claimed his first two titles last year, winning twice on home soil at the Kish Yasi Cup and the Ramadan Cup. He defeated compatriot Navid Maleksabet in both finals, and that helped him rise back inside the top 200 in the World Rankings.

“Those two titles were my first titles and they were the beginning of improving my ranking after I fell from World No.168 to outside the top 600 in the rankings, thanks to no participation in any PSA tournaments for 2 years,” he admitted.

“Those gave me more motivation, though I expected to win those. The QSF 3 and QSF 4 were my first foreign tournaments for two years, and maybe that gap did not lead to a good performance.

“I lost to the top seed in the first one, but I had a better performance in the second one, losing to the second seed in the quarter finals.”

Shameli comes into this week’s event as the top seed, a position he wants to see himself in in bigger tournaments in future. At World No.137, he believes that some good performances over the next few events will see him rise into the world’s top 100.

“Being top seed is something that gives you more confidence in yourself and it is something to be proud of but I hope to be top seed in PSA World Tour tournaments one day,” he explained. 

“Right now, I’m really close to it and I think with 2 PSA events in Tehran and then a 5k in Bangladesh and 10k in Pakistan, I can make the top 100 in April but now it’s not my goal.

“I think being in the top 100, it’s a good opportunity for me to play in bigger tournaments and I see bigger goals for myself at this moment.”

Looking to oust Shameli in the tournament will be compatriots Mohammad Kashani, Sepehr Etemadpoor and Sami Ghasedabadi, with the trio making up the rest of the top four seeds for the event in Tehran this week.

The event takes place from Tuesday, March 1 to Friday, March 4 at the Heydarnia Squash Complex in Tehran, where Alireza Shameli is the top seed for the tournament. Follow the PSA Challenger Tour on *Twitter* and *Facebook* for daily updates from the event.

First Round Draw: Commemoration of the Martyrs of the Iranian Navy Army
[1] Alireza Shameli (IRI) – [Bye]
Poya Shafieifard (IRI) v [5] Soheil Shameli (IRI)
Danial Gharooni (IRI) v [8] Aryan Etemadi (IRI)
Hasanain Dakheel (IRQ) v [4] Sami Ghasedabadi (IRI)
[3] Sepehr Etemadpoor (IRI) v Abdullah Hashim (IRQ)
[WC] Alireza Riaz (IRI) v [7] Sahand Kabiri (IRI)
[6] Navaneeth Prabhu (IND) v Ali Taj (IRI)
Fayyad Sahrifian (IRI) v [2] Mohammad Kashani (IRI)