Iranian girl Kiani flexes muscles ahead of Olympics
Iranian girls bagged a couple of medals at the Galeb Belgrade Trophy G2 – Serbia Open taekwondo event, including a -53kg gold for reigning world champion Nahid Kiani.
Headlining the country’s six-woman team in the Serbian capital, Kiani overcame opponents from Thailand and Italy before a 2-1 victory over Bosnian Ada Avdagic for a place in the final showpiece.
Kiani outclassed Dominika Hronova of the Czech Republic in straight rounds (18-0, 20-0) to walk away with the ultimate prize.
A four-time medalist at the Asian Championships, Kiani will be the favorite Iranian female for the Olympic glory when the Games get underway in Paris in late July.
She will be joined by teenage girl Mobina Ne’matzadeh as well as male duo Arian Salimi and Mehran Barkhordari in representing Iran in the taekwondo contests in the French capital.
Elsewhere in Belgrade, Saeideh Nasiri ( defeated world No. 13 Supharada Kisskalt of Germany (2-1) and then came out victorious against high-profile Croatian Lena Stojkovic – reigning back-to-back world gold medalist – in three rounds to progress to the last-four bout against Spain’s Adriana Cerezo Iglesias.
Nasiri put in a brave performance against the Tokyo Olympic silver winner, who took the bronze in last year’s World Championships, but fell to a 2-1 defeat and settled for a consolation bronze.
Ma’someh Ranjbar (-46kg), Elham Haqiqi, Saghar Moradi (-62kg), and Yalda Valinejad (-67kg) were the other members of the Iranian team in Belgrade but left the event empty-handed.