According to Jam Jam Online, Inayatullah Atashi, a well-known basketball veteran and one of the founders of Esteghlal Club, died this morning, Tuesday, May 8, 1405, at Jam Hospital in Tehran. Atashi was suffering from cancer for a long time.
This sports veteran was born on August 15, 1324 in Jahrom city of Fars province. In addition to having experience in the national basketball team of Iran as a coach and player, Atashi was one of the founders of Esteghlal Club and after the Islamic Revolution of 1357, the name of Esteghlal Club was named after his proposal and the approval of the government.
Condolence message of the Minister of Sports and Youth
Ahmed Dunyamali, Minister of Sports and Youth, expressed his condolences on the death of Inayatullah Atashi.
The text of the condolence message is as follows:
In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Merciful
Iranian basketball lost a man who lived all aspects of this sport with expertise and ethics.
The death of Professor Inayatullah Atashi, a well-known veteran and one of the pioneers of change in Esteghlal Club, caused a deep impact.
His irreplaceable role in various fields of basketball, from wearing the national team shirt and technical guidance of the elites to being in the administrative bodies and the board of the federation, recorded a comprehensive image of an expert manager in the country’s sports memory.
Beyond these responsibilities, he was the “voice of basketball” who brought home this exciting and academic discipline with his warm and expert words and has a great right to the development and popularity of this sport.
I offer my condolences to his respected family, Esteghlal Club and the great basketball community for the death of this committed manager, and I pray for eternal peace for the deceased from the Almighty God.
Condolence message from Esteghlal Club
One less than two eyes
And counting thousands more
I offer my condolences to the great sports community of the country, his respected family, especially his two sons Mehran and Mehrad, and the big family of the Esteghlal Club of Iran on the death of the unique and irreplaceable veteran of Iran’s basketball.
The late Atashi, who was born in 1324, spent his blessed life serving Iran’s sports. His honors include being a player in the Taj Club, being the head coach of Iran’s national basketball team in 1989 and 1999, reporting and mastering basketball in radio and television, and authoring the book “Basketball in the Passage of Time”.
One of the outstanding and lasting points in his career was his key role in the preservation and continuity of Esteghlal Club. In the spring of 1358, when the threat of liquidation of the Taj club threatened, he negotiated with the officials of the time, along with the late Mansour Pourheidari, and succeeded in guaranteeing the life of the club with the new name “Estiqlal”, which was chosen at his own suggestion.
The deceased hastened to Diyar after a long period of suffering from severe cancer. His memory will be cherished, his path will be long and his name will remain forever in the history of Esteghlal Club and Iranian basketball. I pray for God’s mercy for his long soul and patience and reward for the survivors.
Ali Taghernia
Chairman of the Board of Directors and Acting CEO of Esteghlal Club
