Asian Age Group Aquatics Championships:
Water polo silver tops off medal-laden campaign for Iran
Iranian boys settled for the water polo silver at the Asian Age Group Aquatics Championships in the Filipino city of Capas following a 17-13 defeat against Japan.
The two sides went toe-to-toe for the best part of the final showpiece, with only one goal separating them by the end of the third quarter, before the Japanese opened up a three-goal gap in the final period to walk away with the ultimate prize.
The Iranian young guns ran away comfortable winners over Malaysia (34-3), Sri Lanka (34-0), and played to a 9-9 stalemate against Kazakhstan, before a 19-8 victory over Singapore sealed a top-spot finish in Group B for Ali Pirouzkhah’s boys.
Iran then went on to beat China 7-5 for a place in the final.
Saturday’s silver brought the curtain down on a glorious campaign for the Iranian boys in Capas, which also featured a remarkable 18 medals across different age classes of the swimming and diving competitions.
Sam Vajer, who claimed the best diver award in the 15-17 age class, bagged a couple of golds in the boys’ board level 3m and 1m contests, as well as the platform silver.
He also teamed up with Kiumars Aslani to win the 3m synchronized springboard silver and finish on the third podium in the synchro board level final.
Samyar Abdoli, meanwhile, led the charge for the country in the swimming contests with a men’s 50m freestyle gold in the over-18 class, while he was part of the four-man team alongside Homer Abbasi, Mehrshad Afghari, and Matin Sohran that won the 4X100m freestyle relay bronze.
Mohammad-Mahdi Gholami also enjoyed a prolific campaign with five medals in the 13-14 age category despite leaving Capas without a gold – grabbing double silvers in the 200m individual medley and 200m butterfly events – as Iran finished with three golds plus eight silvers and bronzes apiece.