The history of squash in Iran
With the arrival of European oil experts to Iran, squash sport was started in the oil-rich areas of the south of the country to fill the spare time of the experts.
There is no accurate information about the construction of the first squash court in Iran, but it can be said with certainty that the first squash courts owned by the oil company were built in Suleiman Mosque, Abadan, Gachsaran and Tehran.
Seyed Jalil Kazerouni was born in 1943 in Abadan, one of the pioneers of Iranian squash, the son of the late Seyed khahlilallah Kazerouni, who was the first Iranian person to play squash in an organized manner in Khuzestan. . According to Seyed Jalil Kazeroni, the Tehran club [1] had a squash court in Kushk Street in the 1950s, while the first squash courts in Abadan were built in the early 1940s by the oil company in Brim neighborhood.
The late Seyed Khalilallah Kazrouni, who is the oldest Iranian who made squash his specialty, was a member of the board of directors of the oil company consortium after the nationalization of oil and made extensive efforts to develop this sport through the oil company.
The Squash Club of Naft Company is located in Elaheh neighborhood of Tehran, and since its establishment, as one of the important squash centers, it has witnessed the presence of the important figures of Iranian squash, such as the late Khalilallah Kazerouni and Mr. Mozafarian, one of the colleagues of the late Kazerouni in Naft Company.
Because of the special rules of squash and the attractiveness of this sport, many educated and famous people are familiar with squash.
The late Professor Mohammad Hassan Ganji, the father of modern Iranian geography, has informed about the existence of a squash court in the Shahi Bank in the early 1940s in Tehran.
In 1963, the squash court of Naft Company was established in Elaheh area of Tehran, and with the opening of current Enghelab Club of Tehran in the late 1960s, a squash court was also built in this complex.
With the serious involvement of the country’s officials in the development of sports in the early 1950s and winning the hosting of the Asian Games, the first Iran Squash Federation was established in 1973 with the support of the physical education officials of the National Oil Company [2], headed by Abbasgholi Bakhtiar, one of the officials of the National Oil Company, and under the supervision of Dr. Mahmoud Naini in 1973. .
Unfortunately, after a period of time due to the dissolution of the physical education organization at the time in 1956, the fledgling squash federation was dissolved, but the activities and actions of the real squash enthusiasts did not stop, so that by holding ladder competitions and training programs in Tehran’s Naft and Revolution Club with the presence of celebrities Because Seyed Jalil Kazeroni, Sohrab Mehryazdan, Mohsen Kashefi, Vahid Kiyani, Farshad Siyavoshi, Sadegh Samiei, Wazirjahan Yousef zei continued to attract squash enthusiasts in the late 1970s.
On the other hand, with the presence of figures such as Abbas eftekhari, Dr. Mashallah Ebrahimi and Dr. Dolatabadi in the Melli Bank Club and the presence of employees of foreign embassies, the squash oven was still warm in the Melli Bank.
In the beginning of the 1990s, the Squash Committee was established in the Badminton Federation, and after the efforts of squash people, in August 1993, Gholamhossein Farzami took over the presidency of the Squash Federation of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
In 1994, the Squash Federation became a member of the Asian (ASF) and World (WSF) federations.
Presidents of Iran Squash Federation
Gholamhossein Farzami: 1993 to 2003
Hamid Ghasemi: 2003 to 2007
Mohammad Sharif Malekzadeh: 2007 to 2009
Massoud Soleimani: 2009 to 2022
Amir Azizipuor: 2023 until now