Iran crowned Asian junior weightlifting champion
A remarkable 23 medals – including nine golds – saw the Iranian boys win the junior contests at the Asian Youth & Junior Weightlifting Championships in Delhi, India.
In the absence of weightlifting powerhouse China, the Iranian team finished atop the table with 741 points – nine points clear of runner-up Uzbekistan – with the host in third with 672 points.
Iranians dominated the heavyweight events in Delhi, grabbing all 12 gold and silver medals in the 102kg and +102kg weight classes.
The +102kg contests was all about Taha Nemati, who registered the best lifts of 166kg in snatch, 200kg in the clean & jerk, and 366kg in total for a clean sweep of golds.
Nemati was followed in each category by fellow Iranian Hamidreza Mohammadi, who tallied a 158kg snatch lift as well as 192kg in the C&J event before an overall 350kg record sealed three silvers for him.
Abolfazl Zare’, meanwhile, walked away with all three golds up for grabs in the 102kg competitions after his successful 158kg snatch attempt was followed by a best 190kg record in the C&J event, which also brought the total gold for the Iranian with 348kg.
Zare’s glorious campaign also secured the snatch gold plus the C&J and total silvers of the youth contests for the Iranian.
The three junior silvers of the weight class went to Abolfazl Kiani, who recorded 141kg in snatch, 177kg in the clean & jerk, and 318kg in total.
Illiya Salehipour got Iran off the mark in the boys’ junior event by grabbing triple silvers in the 81kg contests, while the first gold medals for the country came in the 89kg class, where Amirmohammad Soleimani grabbed the snatch gold, C&J bronze and the total silver, with Farhad Qolizadeh claiming the C&J and total golds plus the snatch silver.
Qolizadeh’s records saw the Iranian finish his campaign with the C&J silver and the total bronze in the youth contests.
Representing Iran in the 96kg competitions, Hamidreza Zarei took the clean & jerk silver with 174kg before a tally of 306kg gave him the total bronze.
Glory for girls
The Iranian girls enjoyed a glorious run in Delhi, stealing the show in the 64kg weight class with five gold medals.
Fatemeh Keshavarz made history by becoming the first Iranian girl to walk away with an Asian youth gold after grabbing all three coveted medals of the class.
Ghazeleh Hosseini also wrote her name in the history books by winning the first junior girls’ golds for the country at the Asian Championships as she finished on the first podium on three occasions in the 64kg category.
Haniyeh Sharifi, meanwhile, had a decent finish in India with the junior C&J silver and total bronze of the weight class.
Reyhaneh Karimi added three youth medals to Iran’s medal count in the girls’ 59kg event.
She tallied 81kg for the snatch bronze and went on to register 107kg to take the C&J silver and the total bronze.