Iran U-19 men’s volleyball team maintained its third place in the latest FIVB World Ranking.

The Iranian squad stands third with 110 points, Tasnim News Agency reported.

Poland (130 points) and Argentina (120 points) are first and second in the ranking.

Also, Iran men’s U-23 team is seventh in the global ranking with 70 points. Turkey (108), Italy (106) and Russia (100) are the top three teams.

Iran men’s U-21 volleyball team has moved down one place to 11th with 41 points. Russia leads the ranking with 122 points, followed by Argentina (120) and China (110).

National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) has affirmed adequacy of 29 international oil and gas companies willing to put in tenders for Iran’s upstream oil sector.

NIOC intends to invite several rounds of tenders for a number of oil exploration & production (E&P) projects; accordingly, credible and qualified foreign E&P firms were asked to participate in the competence evaluation process.

Conformity assessment documents and related information, including evaluation methods, criteria and procedures were placed on the official website of NIOC on October 17, 2016.

Applicants were required to submit a copy of demanded documents along with electronic files as long as December 04.

According to NIOC official website, secretariat of tenders for upstream oil and gas sector contracts, upon receiving information from interested companies and evaluation of documents, promulgated names of 29 accredited foreign firms.

The final list contains names of prominent oil giants from Germany, France, Italy, Norway, Malaysia, Russia, Austria, Thailand, Japan, Poland, the Netherlands, Britain, Spain and China among the others.

So far, numerous Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) have been inked with foreign companies for development of oil and gas fields though the first international tender in Iran’s oil industry is scheduled to be invited in coming months for expansion of South Azadegan field.

One of the most iconic scenes from the Paralympic Movement this year came from the Rio 2016 Olympics Opening Ceremony, where many witnessed Iranian Para archer Zahra Nemati lead her nation’s delegation into the Maracana Stadium.

The scene opened the eyes of many, bringing greater awareness to Para athletes and continuing to inspire a generation of not only Muslim women but people in her country with an impairment, paralympic.org reported.

Nemati became the first Para athlete to carry her nation’s flag during the Olympics, and Iran’s second female flag bearer after Lida Fariman did so in 1996.

The scene of Nemati carrying the Iranian flag had great significance, and that is why it marks at No. 11 in the International Paralympic Committee’s Top 50 Moments of 2016.

“It was my honor as I was the only Paralympian participating in the Olympic Games as the flag bearer,” Nemati told Paralympic.org. “This matter led to change so many minds and people around the world that in spite of many severe challenges, we can make everything possible.”

Nemati added that not many expected to see a woman in a wheelchair carrying the Iranian flag during the Olympics Opening Ceremony.

“That moment was a surprise for the world; I always enjoy surprising the people,” she said.

The two-time Paralympian strongly believed that she raised the profile of the Paralympics when competing in the Olympics.

“Certainly,” she said. “Representing as a Paralympian sent an essential message to the world. That’s an important message that a Paralympian can qualify for Olympics to compete with elite [able-bodied] athletes and also act as a flag bearer for the country. I was so glad to forward this message with my presence in the Rio Olympic Games.”

Nemati made her name known four years ago, when she won the individual recurve W1/W2 at London 2012. That moment marked the first time an Iranian woman won Olympic or Paralympic gold, and she has continued to make history since then.

In November 2015, Nemati secured a historic qualifying spot for her nation at the Rio Olympics after her performance at the Asian Archery Championships.

She was one of the few Paralympians to compete at the 2016 Olympics, with Para table tennis players Natalia Partyka of Poland and Melissa Tapper of Australia among the other notable Paralympians.

During archery events at the Rio Olympics, Nemati put together a 28 in the second set to get on the scoreboard — but could not produce in the closing series, and ultimately fell out of the competition, 6-2.

She came back to the Sambodromo to compete in the Paralympics, where she successfully defended her title.

“Every edition has its own conditions and features, but as I was the only Paralympian in the Olympics; I had a peculiar feeling in the Games,” Nemati said. “The atmosphere was so competitive and all athletes aimed to stand on the podium. The Paralympic Games had another different experience. Since I always consider it like my home, I found the Paralympics more of a friendly Games.”

Nemati also noted that her stay in the Athletes’ Village during the Olympic Games was another different experience than her stay during the Paralympics.

“Although most of people were amazed, their reaction was so nice,” she recalled. “I was welcomed by the people and all tried to communicate with me since this matter was so unfamiliar for them; especially for the Brazilians who treated me so well.”

Just two years after a car accident in 2004 left her with spinal cord injuries, Nemati took up the sport that would lead her to become a national treasure.

Within six months she was beating able-bodied athletes at a national level and in 2010 broke her first world record.

After a hectic past few months following the Games, Nemati said all the receptions and ceremonies are done at the moment and she is enjoying downtime in her hometown Kerman. But she wanted to leave one more message: “I ask again all people with disabilities; never surrender in your disability. Be informed that sport is one of the best ways to overcome disability.”

NISOC managing director said negotiations were underway way to launch oil cooperation with BP, Argentina’s YPF as well as China’s Sinopec and CNPC.

Aiming at attracting maximum investment and modern technology, Iran’s Oil Ministry, in addition to introducing new model of oil contracts, dubbed as the Iran Petroleum Contract (IPC), has allowed National Iranian South Oil Company (NISOC) to prepare its own specific model for oil contracts.

The model of contract based on which the NISOC has signed several Memorandums of Understanding with international companies was drawn up an aim to attract foreign investment and new technologies.

Speaking on the sidelines of a meeting with Iranian companies, Managing Director of NISOC Bijan Alipour said his company was conducting meetings with qualified Iranian and foreign firms.

He urged domestic firms to pick up foreign partners in order to take advantage of financial resources and modern technologies for cooperation and development of Iranian oil fields.

He voiced optimism towards outcomes of meetings and expressed hope that a number of Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) will be inked.

He said two MoUs had been signed with Pergas Consortium and Schlumberger in the framework of the NISOC contract model; “talks are underway with BP (British Petroleum), Argentina’s largest oil company YPF in addition to China’s Sinopec and CNPC.”

Alipour also pointed to the upcoming visit of PGNiG (literally: Polish Petroleum and Gas Mining) officials to Tehran in order to begin negotiations with NISOC.

Based on the NISOC contract, the Parsi, Karanj, Rag Sefid and Shadegan fields, consisting nine reservoirs, will be developed.

The nine reservoirs consist Asmari, Pabdeh and Khami reserves in Karanj field, Asmari, Bangestan and Khami reservoirs in Rag Sefid field, Asmari reservoir in Parsi field and Asmari and Bangestan reservoirs in Shadegan field.

Under the contract model, National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) will be the employer and the NISOC will be executive leading the project on behalf of the NIOC.

The contractor of the project or the qualified Iranian or foreign oil companies will have to finance the projects.

NISOC contracts comprise two types including Contracts for Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) or Improved Oil Recovery (IOR) as well as Performance Based Contracting (PBC), also known as performance-based logistics (PBL).

Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency (abbreviated to PAIiIZ in Polish) will open an office in Tehran and has already received the necessary permit, according to Wojciech Fedko, a member of the board in the agency.

Fedko made the remarks in a Monday meeting in Tehran with Abolfazl Rahnama, a director in Foreign Affairs Department of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ICCIMA), the portal of ICCIMA reported.
Opening this office will be a bid to provide opportunities for cooperation between Polish and Iranian economic entrepreneurs to expand economic ties between the two countries, he underlined.
Emphasizing the necessity of boosting cooperation between this office and ICCIMA, Fedko said, “Through exchanging information and introducing active members of the two countries, we should lay the ground for bilateral cooperation.”
Rahnama, who has been previously Iran’s ambassador to Poland, for his part referred to the good political and economic relations between the two countries and said that 14 Polish economic delegations have visited ICCIMA officials in Tehran over the past three years which indicates existence of many opportunities for bilateral cooperation and also high willingness in this due.
He further announced ICCIMA’s readiness for exchange of information and also for bilateral cooperation through PAIiIZ’s office in Tehran.

Iranian inventors succeeded to receive the silver medal of the IFIA International Chemical Competition held on October 10-12, 2016 in the Main Hall of the Warsaw University of Technology.

10th edition of International Warsaw Invention Show 2016 “IWIS 2016” was held on October 10-12, 2016 in the Main Hall of the Warsaw University of Technology. As in previous years, the event was organized by the Association of Polish Inventors and Innovators in cooperation with the Polish Patent Office and the Warsaw University of Technology.

Alongside the event, IFIA International Chemical Competition organized to showcase the best technologies in this field, evaluated them according to the pre-established criteria and awarded the best ones.

Finally silver medal went into the hands of Iranian inventors from Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran for developing the invention “Design and construction of a Structural Smart Portable Device for implementation of the Structural health monitoring”.

This team that includes Alireza Entezami, bahareh behkamal, hashem shariatmadar gained confirmation of this exhibition. They also won Gold medal and the Top Invented Warrant from International Research Association participants, which were in Civil Engineering sub-group.

Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) is an implementing process focusing on condition assessment of various types of civil and mechanical structures based on statistical and mathematical techniques. The main purpose of this invention is to design and construct a Structural Smart Portable Device (SSPD). In this device, some novel algorithms and methods are proposed. In this regard, an efficient and practical way has been suggested in order to dealing with some limitations and drawbacks in using previous SHM methods. Finally, this invention identifies the location and quantification of structural damage.

IWIS is Poland’s largest international exhibition dedicated to the promotion of invention and innovation. During the 10th edition solutions from 26 countries, including Malaysia, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Indonesia, Iran, Taiwan, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, Yemen were presented. Polish inventors presented more than 130 solutions in various fields of science, which globally with foreign inventors gave more than 415 solutions, which are a review of technical achievements, some of which have found their place in the industry, and partly awaiting implementation.

The 8th Iran Air Show aiming at presenting aviation and aerospace industries capabilities and introducing the latest aviation achievements and technologies started work on Nov 16 in the Persian Gulf Kish Island.

The opening ceremony of the event was held in the presence of Iran’s Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan, Head of Civil Aviation Organization of Iran Ali Abedzadeh, Kish Free Zone Organization Managing Director Ali Asghar Moonesan, deputies of the Ministry of Road and Urban Development, ambassadors of Senegal and Russia, and heads of aviation firms and some other officials.

Over 100 domestic firms from aviation and aerospace organizations, institutions, research centers, universities and higher education centers and production companies and foreign firms from Germany, Russia, Italy, England, Japan, Poland, Latvia, Singapore, Malaysia, Turkey, France and Ukraine participated in the event.

The event is being held in two sections of exhibition and air show.

In exhibition section, potentials of aviation industry, knowledge-based firms, and air plane parts designers is shown while in air show section, fans will see aircraft flying in the sky.

The sub-events consist of unveiling some innovative and knowledge-based plans, holding a meeting on Iran-Russia cooperation, holding Aerospace National Day and workshop.

The event is supported by Kish Free Zone Organization, Ministry of Defense, Iran Aviation Industries Organization, Iran Civil Aviation Organization, Iranian Airports Holding Company (IAC), The Airline of Islamic Republic of Iran (Iran Air) and Presidential Deputy for Science and Technology.

The 8th International Iran Air Show will be underway until Nov 19 in Kish International Exhibitions Center.

The 33rd Tehran International Short Film Festival (TISFF) is underway in Charsu Sineplex.

Charsou Cineplex is currently hosting the 33rd Tehran International Short Film Festival (TISFF) from 8-14 November, 2016.

The festival director is Farid Farkhondehkish and the poster features the late Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami.

Jury members for the international section include Khosro Sinai from Iran, Julliette Duret from Belgium, Anna Henckel from Germany, Shubhra Gupta from India, and Jukka Pekka Lakso from Finland.

The festival hosts 25 foreign guests from Colombia, Turkey, Iraq, Germany, Finland, Belgium, India, Tajikistan, Austria, Switzerland, Poland and Japan.

Iranian Youth Cinema Society (IYCS) organizes Tehran International Short Film Festival (TISFF) annually in Autumn. It is one of the oldest film festivals not only in Iran but also in the region. The festival has been the host of the International well-known festival directors and cineastes from around the world. In 2014 the festival had received almost 3000 films from 104 countries and in 2015 it reached to 3601 films from 108 countries around the world.

Female Iranian archer Zahra Nemati came first at Women’s Individual Recurve to bring home Iran’s seventh gold medal at 2016 Paralympics.

Iran’s Nemati had to overcome a strong Chinese rival Chunyan Wu in the final round of Women’s Individual Recurve – Open before standing on top of the podium.

London Paralympic champion Zahra Nemati subdued the Chinese archer 6-4 in the final showdown and added one more gold to Iran’s earlier tally of six golds in Rio Paralympic Games.

Milena Olszewska of Poland also won the bronze medal match over South Korea’s Hwa Sook Lee and landed third in the event.

Earlier, the female Iranian archer together with her compatriot Ebrahim Ranjabar had earlier won silver medal of Mixed Team Recurve Open after conceding a 3-5 defeat against Lixue Zhao and Chunyan Wu of China.

The Mina delegation of Iranian Paralympians at the Rio Paralympics is comprised of 111 sportspeople who vie at 12 fields of the 23 athletics.

Zahra Nemati is an Iranian Paralympic and Olympic archer. She originally competed in taekwondo before she was paralyzed in a car accident. At the 2012 Summer Paralympics she won two medals, an individual gold and team bronze.

The Iranian sports caravan managed to collect eight medals in 2016 Rio Olympic Games in order to finish 25th in the final standings table.

Having attracted more than 10 thousand athletes, the 31st edition of Summer Olympics was convened from August 05-21 in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro while the closing ceremony was held on Monday morning Tehran local time.

Earlier on Sunday, Iranian freestyler Reza Yazdani conceded a bitter defeat by fall against Magomed Abdulmuminovich Ibragimov of Uzbekistan in the second chance group in order to miss the bronze medal match of 97kg weight category.

In the first round, Yazdani had defeated Turkish İbrahim Bölükbaşı 10-0 while he failed to breeze past Khetag Gazyumov of Republic of Azerbaijan 1-2. Later in repêchage round 1, the Iranian contestant faced Radosław Baran from Poland, and defeated him 5-2.

Mohammad Jafar Moradi of Iran,also, appeared in Men’s marathon event on Sunday where he clocked 2:31.58 hours to stand in the 129th place. Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya finished in 2:08.44 hours to the title of the long-distance running event with an official distance of 42.195 kilometers.

Overall, Iranian athletes snatched 3 gold, 1 silver as well as 4 bronze medals competing in various sportive fields in Rio.

Iran’s weightlifting squad clinched two gold medals by Kianoush Rostami (85kg) and Sohrab Moradi (94kg). Also, Iranian wrestler Hassan Yazdani won finals of Men’s freestyle 74 kg over his Russian rival to add one more gold medal to Iran’s tally.

Iran’s only silver medal was received by heavyweight wrestler Komeil Ghasemi who conceded a defeat against his Russian rival in finals of Men’s freestyle 125kg wrestling event.

Saeid Abdevali (75kg) and Ghasem Rezaei (98kg) were Iranian Greco-Roman wrestlers who stood on the third podium while Hassan Rahimi also won a bronze medal in 57kg division of freestyle wrestling.

The fourth bronze medal of the Iranian outfit was secured by Kimia Alizadeh in -57 kg class of taekwondo who became the first Iranian woman to win an Olympics medal.

The Persians had scooped 12 medals (4 gold, 5 silver and 3 bronze) in the 2012 edition of the sportive extravaganza which was hosted by London.