Khodabakhshi takes silver in world karate meet
Iranian Mahdi Khodabakhshi won a second medal for the country in the World Karate Championships in Budapest, grabbing a kumite silver in the men’s -84kg weight class.
Khodabakhshi overcame opponents from Qatar, Libya, Bosnia & Herzegovina, and Jordan before a last-four victory over Japan’s Rikito Shimada but fell to a 9-2 defeat against defending champion Youssef Badawy of Egypt in the final showdown.
Reigning Olympic champion Sajjad Ganjzadeh got Iran off the mark in the event with a bronze in the +84kg contests on Saturday, thanks to a 1-0 win against Croatian Andelo Kvesic.
Meanwhile, Fatemeh Sa’adati was unlucky to miss out on a podium finish in the women’s -55kg event after an injury ruled her out of the third-place bout against Ukrainian Anzhelika Terliuga.
Iran had to send a depleted squad to the Hungarian capital after the host country refused to issue entry visas for the male kata representative Ali Zand as well as the country’s female kata trio and the whole para karate team.