Hangzhou Asian Games:
Girls duo open medal account for Iran with rowing silver
Rowing pair Mahsa Javer and Zeinab Norouzi got Iran off the mark in the medal table at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, by grabbing a silver medal in the women’s double sculls event.
The Iranian duo clocked 7:17.08 minutes in the Final A contest at Fuyang Water Sports Centre – finishing 13.67 seconds adrift of the host’s Lu Shiyu and Shen Shuangmei.
Thailand’s Nuntida Krajangjam and Parisa Chaempudsa took the bronze on 7:21.70.
Nazanin Malaei and Kimia Zarei were the other Iranian female pair in action at the rowing contests on Sunday but missed out on the podium after a fourth-place finish in the light-weight double sculls final.
Later in the day, Iranian Marjan Salahshouri bagged a second medal for the country – a bronze in the women’s individual poomsae of the taekwondo competitions.
Salahshouri overcame opponents from Bangladesh and Malaysia before suffering a last-four defeat against Japan’s Yuiko Niwa.
Salahshouri registered 6.44 points against the Japanese’s 6.86 to share the third podium with Ma Yun Zhong of the Chinese Taipei.
Niwa, meanwhile, had to settle for the silver after a final loss to South Korean Kang Wanjin.
Elsewhere in the Games, Iran got off to a flying start in the men’s handball, thrashing Mongolia 50-16 in Group D of the preliminary round, while in the men’s beach volleyball, there were a couple of last-16 victories for the two Iranian teams.
Sina Shokati and Bahman Salemi teamed up to beat Japan 2-1 (21-16, 18-21, 15-6), with Abbas Pour-Asgari and Alireza Aghajani coming out victorious against the Thai duo in straight sets (21-15, 21-15).