Asian Para Games:
Nemati, sitting volleyball men continue Iranian gold rush in Hangzhou
Another gold-laden day for Iran at the 4th Asian Para Games saw Zahra Nemati and the men’s sitting volleyball team finish their campaigns on high in Hangzhou, China.
Saman Pakbaz, Erfan Bondori, Alisina Manshazadeh, Gholamreza Rahimi, and Ali-Akbar Gharibshahi were also among the Iranian gold medalists on the penultimate day of the Games as the country remains in a tight race with Japan for the runner-up spot in the medals table.
Archery
Iranian archery sensation and three-time Paralympic champion Nemati bagged a third medal in Hangzhou when she defeated China’s Wu Yang 6-4 to walk away with the ultimate prize of the women’s individual recurve open.
This was a fifth gold in the history of the Asian Para Games for the Iranian, who had claimed the doubles recurve open silver – alongside Somayeh Rahimi – before teaming up with Mohammadreza Arab for the mixed team gold earlier in Hangzhou.
Meanwhile, Manshazadeh came out on top against Rakesh Kumar in the men’s individual compound open final, while a 6-5 win against Japanese Tomohiro Ueyama secured the men’s individual recurve open gold for Rahimi.
Sitting volleyball
It was business as usual for the Iranian men, who eased to a straight-set victory (25-14, 25-16, 25-18) over Kazakhstan in the final showpiece as the eight-time Paralympic gold medalist remains unbeaten in the Asian Para Games since the event was first introduced in 2010.
In the women’s competition, held in a round-robin format, Iran defeated Thailand 3-0 (25-11, 25-10, 25-7) but still had to settle for the silver medal – finishing second to China.
Powerlifting
Reigning world champion Gharibshahi grabbed the men’s -107kg gold, thanks to a successful third lift of 251kg which saw the Iranian set a new record for the Games.
However, Gharibshahi failed with the 255kg attempt in his fourth lift, which would have seen him shatter his own world record by one kilogram.
A bronze medalist at the Tokyo Paralympics, Iranian Saman Razi finished third in the category with 235kg – 10 kilograms adrift of Mongolian Sodnompiljee Enkhbayar.
Athletics
Bondori and Pakbaz continued Iran’s glittering run in the athletics competitions as they collected a couple of two more golds for the country.
Bondori registered a 28.28m throw in the men’s javelin throw F54 final for a new record in the Games, while Pakbaz finished atop the men’s shot put F12 contest with a final attempt of 16.15m, which also saw the Iranian shatter the Asian Para Games record, with Pakbaz’s fellow-Iranian Ali Shamshiri winning the bronze of the contest.
Elsewhere in the HSC Stadium, Vahid Alinajimi and Omid Zarif-Sanaei respectively took the silver and bronze medals of the men’s 400m T13 event, with Hadi Kaeidi claiming the men’s shot put F34 silver.
Vajiheh Houshmand was the Iranian female medalist in athletics competitions on Friday as a 28.83m attempt handed her the discus throw F64 bronze.