Hangzhou Asian Games:
Aqaei wins kurash silver; Alamians finish with precious bronze
A quiet day for the Iranians at the Hangzhou Asian Games in China saw Donya Aqaei grab a silver medal in the kurash competitions, while Alamian brothers settled for the men’s doubles bronze in the table tennis event.
Representing the country in the women’s -70kg contests, Aqaei overcame opponents from the Chinese Taipei and Uzbekistan to reach the final showpiece, only to suffer a defeat against the host’s Yu Dan and claim a second kurash silver for the country in Hangzhou.
Majid Vahid Barimanlou had also finished on the second podium after a loss to Uzbekistan’s Artyom Shturbabin in the men’s -66kg showdown on the preceding night.
Impressive Alamians
Nima and Noshad Alamian rounded off a memorable campaign with a second table tennis bronze for Iran at the Games.
The two brothers defeated Japan, against all odds, for a place in the men’s doubles semifinals but their journey came to an end on Sunday after a 4-0 (11-4, 11-3, 11-3, 11-6) setback against the reigning world doubles champions and home favorites Fan Zhendong and Wang Chuqin in a full-packed GSP Gymnasium.
“You might have a chance against them in a one-on-one battle but when it comes to the doubles competitions they are simply invincible across the whole world, not to mention they had 6,000 fans cheering them today,” elder brother Noshad said of Fan and Wang, who are the top two in the latest ITTF world singles ranking.
Nima and Noshad were part of the Iranian trio, alongside Mirhossein Hodaei, who beat Tokyo Olympic bronze medalist Japan before a last-four defeat against South Korea to win the men’s team bronze – Iran’s first table tennis medal in the Asian Games in 65 years.
No matter what the final outcome for the Iranian teams and athletes in Hangzhou, the country’s table tennis run in the Games will surely go down as a success.
Elsewhere on Day 8 of the event, Iranian girl Hiva Afzali clocked 52.623 seconds to finish second to Japan’s Mio Kobayashi and book a place in Tuesday’s canoe single 200m final.
In handball, a 25-24 defeat against South Korea saw Iran finish fourth in the Group I of the main round and fail to progress to the last four.