Iran’s Keshavarz bags double Asian weightlifting bronzes
Fatemeh Keshavarz collected first medals for Iran at the Asian Weightlifting Championships in Jinju, South Korea, by claiming a couple of bronzes in the women’s event.
Representing the country in the 64kg weight class, Keshavarz got off to a slow start to her campaign on Monday as she only managed to lift the 85kg weight and finish fifth in the snatch contest.
Mongolian Ganzorigiin Anuujin took the snatch gold with 93kg gold and was accompanied on the podium by Kazakhstan’s Karina Goricheva (91kg) and Medine Amanowa (90kg) of Turkmenistan.
The 18-year-old Iranian, however, went on to finish third in the clean & jerk contest with a best lift of 109kg, while Anuujin grabbed her second gold of the night with 118kg, edging silver winner Amanowa by one kilogram.
An overall tally of 194kg gave Keshavarz the total bronze, with Anuujin (211kg) and Amanowa (207kg) taking the gold and silver respectively.
“I could have done better today but my body was a bit low in energy in the snatch event. I could not match my training records but I’m still thankful to have finished with two medals,” said Keshavarz, who became only the second Iranian woman to win Asian weightlifting medals, following Elham Hosseini.
Hosseini stole the headlines in Manama, Bahrain, last year by making a clean sweep of three 81kg golds.
Keshavarz said she will be looking to participate at the Asian juniors’ event and the World Championships next, while her “ultimate goal will be a berth for Paris Olympics.”