World Para Taekwondo Grand Prix Final:
Iranians bag four golds, secure Paralympic berths
Iranians stole the show on Day 1 of the World Para Taekwondo Grand Prix Final in Manchester, Britain, walking away with four gold medals to seal their spots in next year’s Paralympic Games in Paris.
Representing the country in the women’s -49kg contests on Friday, Maryam Abdollahpour marched to a 24-3 victory over her familiar foe Ziyodakhon Isakova of Uzbekistan in the semifinals and then stunned Puerto Rican Leonor Espinoza – the reigning Paralympic champion – by a 15-5 scoreline for the ultimate prize.
Mahdi Pour-Rahnama needed to win the gold in Manchester to secure the Paralympic quota, and he achieved it thanks to a 17-10 win against Uzbekistan’s Javokhir Alikulov in a thrilling men’s -70kg final.
A three-time world champion, Pour-Rahnama will be looking to improve on his previous Paralympic campaign in Tokyo – where he settled for the 75kg silver – when heading to the French capital next summer.
Alireza Bakht also booked his Paris ticket, courtesy of a 29-18 triumph over high-profile South Korean Jeong-hun Joo – No. 2 in the World Rankings – in the men’s -80kg final showpiece.
Hamed Haqshenas built on his gold-winning run in October’s Asian Para Games to defeat world number one Croatian Ivan Mikulic – beaten by Iranian Asghar Aziziaqdam in the Tokyo final – 17-2 in the +80kg showdown.
Iranians denied visas
Meanwhile, three Iranians suffered major blows to their quest for a place in the Paris Olympics after being denied UK entry visas by the British Embassy in Ankara and missing out on the final series of the World Grand Prix.
Mahdi Hajmousaei and Abolfazl Zandi, the men’s 58kg top two in the GP Series 2 event, as well as Mehran Barkhordari, an 80kg gold medalist in September’s competition in Paris, are in a tight race in the Olympic ranking of their respective weight classes and the absence in Manchester could cost them dearly on the road to the Games.
The trio will still have a final opportunity to win a quota when participating at the two-day Champions Series of the World Taekwondo Grand Slam – starting December 13 in Wuxi, China.
Controversial visa denials have kept the Iranian athletes from taking part at several international events over the past months – most recently in mid-November’s World Wushu Championships in Fort Worth, Texas.
The country also had to send a depleted squad to Anaheim, California, for the final week of the preliminary round in the Volleyball Nations League in July, while the Iranian freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling teams were ruled out of October’s U23 World Championships in Tirana, Albania.