Asian Age Group Aquatics Championships:
Iranian prodigy Vajer excels with five diving medals
Iranian boy Sam Vajer stole the headlines at the Asian Age Group Aquatics Championships by claiming the best diver award of his age class in the Filipino city of Capas.
Representing the country in the 15-17 age group contests, Vajer scored 382.45 points to walk away with the ultimate prize of the board level 3m event on Friday – a second gold for the Iranian following a board level 1m triumph on the preceding night.
Vajer also settled for a silver in the boys’ platform contest with 357.30 points earlier in the 11th edition of the competition.
He was also part of the Iranian duo – alongside Kiumars Aslani – that grabbed the 3m synchronized springboard silver medal, while finishing on the third podium at the synchro board level final.
Aydin Nosrati was the other Iranian to win a diving medal in Capas, taking the silver in the boys’ board level 1m event of the 13-14 age category.
Iranians had enjoyed a glorious campaign in the swimming competitions with an impressive eight medals.
Samyar Abdoli headlined the country’s swimming run with a men’s 50m freestyle gold in the over-18 class, and teamed up with Homer Abbasi, Mehrshad Afghari, and Matin Sohran for the 4X100m freestyle relay.
Meanwhile, Mohammad-Mahdi Gholami enjoyed a prolific campaign with five medals in the 13-14 age category despite failing to win a gold.
The Iranian boy bagged a couple of silvers in the 200m individual medley and 200m butterfly events, while taking the bronzes of the 50m backstroke and 100m backstroke contests.
He was in the Iranian bronze-winning team – also featuring Yashar Soleimani, Rayan Zare’, and Shantia Nazari – in the 4X100m freestyle relay final.