Hangzhou Asian Games:
Olfati wins historic silver in artistic gymnastics
Iran’s Mahdi Olfati won a historic silver on the sixth day of the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China – a first-ever artistic gymnastics medal for the country in the history of the event.
Representing Iran in the men’s vault competition, Olfati scored 14.783 to finish second to Japanese Wataru Tanigawa – a silver winner in Tokyo Olympics – who tallied 15.016 for the ultimate prize.
Aimy Muhammad Sharul of Malaysia took the bronze with 14.466.
“I’m thrilled to win this silver after years of Iranians’ unfortunate failure in the Asian Games,” Olfati said.
Abed Haqdadi, the chairman of the Iranian Gymnastics Federation, was full of praise for Olfati, saying: “No one thought he would win a medal in a contest that featured some world-class athletes from Japan and South Korea.”
Reigning Olympic champion Shin Jea-hwan missed out on the podium on Friday as a 14.149 score saw the South Korean settle for a fourth-place finish.
“I’m sure this medal is just the beginning of a successful run for Iran in the future world and Olympic events,” added Haqdadi.
Table tennis
Elsewhere in the Games on Friday, Alamian brothers, Nima and Noshad, rallied from two games down to beat the Chinese Taipei duo Huang Yan-Cheng and Liao Cheng-Ting 3-2 (7-11, 8-11, 11-6, 11-9, 11-4) for a place in the men’s doubles quarterfinals.
“It was truly a stressful contest. We didn’t know much about the opponents beforehand, but we had a change of tactics after the first two games and found our way back into the match,” Iranian coach Jamil Lotfollah Nasabi said afterwards.
Nima Alamian said the pivotal moment of the match came in the fourth game.
“When it was tied at 9-9, I told my brother: ‘Let’s hit risky servers,’ and thank God the risk paid off,” said the Iranian, who will be looking to secure a second medal in the Games in today’s last-eight encounter against Japanese duo Taisei Matsushita and Mizuki Oikawa.
It has already been a memorable campaign for Alamian brothers, who were part of the Iranian trio, alongside Mirhossein Hodaei, that beat Tokyo Olympic bronze medalist Japan before falling to South Korea in the semifinals to win the team bronze – Iran’s first table tennis medal in the Asian Games in 65 years.
Wushu glory
Friday’s results came after Iran capped off an impressive wushu campaign in Hangzhou with seven medals – including double men’s sanda golds for Afshin Salimi and Yousef Sabri – on the preceding night.
Salimi defeated Indonesian Samuel Marbun in the 65kg final, while Sabri came out on top against Macau’s Cai Feilong for the 75kg gold.
This year’s event would probably be one to forget for five-time world champion Mohsen Mohammadseifi as the Iranian sensation, who was after a fourth successive gold in the Asian Games, suffered a final defeat against the host’s He Feng and took the 70kg silver.
Shoja Panahi also came short against a Chinese opponent in Wang Xuetao and settled for the 60kg silver.
There were further glories for Mansourian sisters in the women’s draw, with Elaheh taking the 52kg silver – after a final setback against Chinese Li Yueyao – while five-time world champion Shahrbanoo finished on the third podium of the 60kg class.
Zahra Kiani had bagged a women’s talou silver in the jianshu/qiangshu contest on Wednesday.