General Houshmand Almassi (IRI), former AFC President

Born in 1928, General Houshmand Almassi, who passed away in Geneva on 16 December 2016 at the age of 88, was a member of the Iranian fencing national team participating in the Tokyo Olympic Games. He got his fencing diploma from Italy and was Iran national coach for many years.

He was the third president after the founding of the Iranian Fencing Federation. He was the founder of the modern Iranian fencing era in which Iran came first in fencing at the Tehran Asian Games of 1974.

Two years before that, in 1972, he became President of the Asian Fencing Confederation (AFC). He not only improved fencing in Iran but also contributed greatly to the improvement of the sport throughout the continent.

During his presidency China was not allowed to take part in official competitions, but he communicated and lobbied hard with different international organizations and finally he was able to remove those sanctions and fencing was the first sport which China could take part in international events for the first time.