When the Islamic Republic of Iran made their IHF Men's World Championship debut at Qatar 2015, they started off with five straight preliminary group losses against Bosnia and Herzegovina (25:30), North Macedonia (31:33), Croatia (22:41), Austria (26:38) and Tunisia (23:30).

This meant moving into the President's Cup, where they finally got their first senior world championship victories against Chile (32:31) and Saudi Arabia (26:22). 

Those two results ensured a 21st-place finish, but the nation would have to watch the next three World Championships from a distance before finally qualifying again.

And maybe it was written in the stars that they could finally get their first preliminary group point or points in Krakow at the 2023 IHF Men's World Championship.

Why? Their first opponents were Chile.

A back-and-forth match finally swung in favour of the Asian side coached by Veselin Vujović, who eventually took a 25:24 (13:11) victory thanks in no small part to their goalkeeper and Hummel player of the match, Mohammad Siavoshishahenayati.

The 37-year-old pulled off 17 saves (43% save rate), including a last-second stop, and ensured the historic two points for his country.

"Five minutes before the match finished, I looked at the scoreboard and saw, 'wow, we are losing'," said the Foolad Sepahan Isfahan player to ihf.info.

"After that, I focused on the match and said to myself, 'God help me please to win this match'. After that, really, I don't know what happened; finally we can win. I'm the oldest player in this team and I have to support our players, many of whom are playing in a World Championship for the first time.

"It's a beautiful sense of duty," he added about his job on the court. "I stand in the goal and I did my duty as a goalkeeper. Yes, I had stress. It was not our best play, just 30% of our energy and our technique, plus we had some mistakes, but we can play better than this."

Iran's captain Mojtaba Heidarpour played back at Qatar 2015 and did not underestimate the significance of the result.

"It was our first match and it was very important for us to win to have a chance to go to the main round," said the player, who is also a club teammate of Siavoshishahenayati's.

"I'm so happy about the win and maybe we can be in the top 24 teams here. I'm sure you'll hear more about the Iran team in the next match, the one after that and so on."

"Chile is a very young team and we cannot compare this team with the one at the Qatar World Championship," added Siavoshishahenayati. "Yes, we had a good team in Qatar, and some of our players can play in Europe, but this time we have a very, very young team, and some of them don't have enough experience.

"I'm sure that in time we can be a better team than at Qatar 2015. I'm sure about this."

In Veselin Vujović, a world-famous name is now at the helm of the Iran team, and Siavoshishahenayati and the Montenegrin coach have already struck up a relationship in the early days of working together.

"My coach says to me: 'you're crazy'," smiles Siavoshishahenayati. "A goalkeeper is a very important part of handball, of course. If you're not crazy and if you don't touch the ball on every part of your body, you cannot play well, but yes, the goalkeeper is a crazy man."

And Vujović, perhaps surprisingly to those who have followed his career, was a little lost for words when talking about the victory, but found one special word for his goalkeeper.

"It was a really, really tough match from the beginning," he said. "It is hard when you prepare for one match for six months. Because you think if I lose this match, I cannot go into the second round.

"I don't have an explanation for how we won, [but] our goalkeeper was amazing."