Asian Para Games:
Iran bags 44 golds, pips Japan to runner-up spot
The two-horse race for the runner-up place in the 4th Asian Para Games in Hangzhou, China, ended in Iran’s favor as the country overtook Japan to finish behind China in the medals table.
Having spent the best part of the seven-day event in the second place, the Iranians had fallen behind the Japanese on Friday before the final-day heroics saw Iran ultimately collect 44 golds – two more than what the Japanese tallied.
Iranian athletes also grabbed 46 silvers and 41 bronze medals while the host, as expected, dominated the Games with 521 medals – including an all-time record of 214 golds.
Fatemeh Amirzadegani and Mehrdad Moradi brought the curtain down on a glittering athletics campaign for Iran in Hangzhou as the former was the first to cross the finish line in the women’s 400m T12 final, with the latter walking away with the ultimate prize of the men’s event.
Zafar Zaker, meanwhile, registered a best attempt of 33.58m to take the silver in the men’s javelin throw F55 contest.
In the chess competitions, Maliheh Safaei won the women’s individual rapid gold in the VI-B1 RND7 class with the Iranian women also beating Indonesia to the top spot in the team event of the category.
Abolfazl Kazemian (silver), Leila Zarezadeh (bronze), and Atefeh Naqavi (bronze) were also among the Iranian medalists on Saturday as the country notched up a total 15 chess medals – including four golds – in Hangzhou.
Elsewhere on the final day, the Iranian powerlifters dominated the men’s superheavyweight contest, while Nikoo Rouzbahani’s 126kg lift sealed the women’s +86kg bronze for her.
Ahmad Aminzadeh bagged the men’s +107kg gold, thanks to a third lift of 266kg.
Aminzadeh’s fellow Iranian Mahdi Sayyadi settled for the silver with 244kg – nine kilograms clear of Jordanian bronze winner Jamil Elshebli, who had won the gold at the Tokyo Paralympics two years ago.
Aminzadeh went on to pay tribute to the late Iranian sensation Siamand Rahman, who passed away at the age of 31 in 2020 but remains the world record holder of the men’s superheavyweight class with 310kg, describing the two-time Paralympic champion as “an unrepeatable legend, whose absence will always be felt in the Iranian team.”
There were also medals for Iran in blind football – men’s silver – as well as archery competitions – Mohammadreza Zandi’s bronze in the men’s individual W1 open event – as the country celebrated a best-ever finish in the medals table since the Asian Para Games were first introduced in 2010.
Female athletes took credit for 40 medals of Iran’s haul – 12 of which were golds – with archers Zahra Nemati and Mohammadreza Arab teaming up for the sole Iranian mixed medal in Hangzhou – a team recurve open gold.
The athletics competitions were the most prolific event for the Iranians, yielding 20 golds, coupled with 20 silvers and 10 bronzes.
Iranian swimmer Sina Zeighaminejad also enjoyed a memorable run in this year’s Games, collecting three gold medals and a silver.