West Asian Athletics Championships:
Girls headline Iran’s medal-laden run in Basra
Iranian girls bagged six medals on Day 3 of the West Asian Athletics Championships in Basra, Iraq.
Parisa Arab clocked a new national record of 16:37.80 minutes to walk away with the ultimate prize in the 5,000m final – a second gold for the Iranian girl after her 10,000m triumph on Day 1.
Nazanin Fatemeh Eidian led Iran’s one-two in the women’s 400m hurdles final with 1:00.99 minutes, followed by Shahla Mahmoudi, who crossed the line in 1:01.51 minutes.
This was the latest success for Iranian prodigy Eidian – also the women’s 400m champion in Basra – in a glorious 2024 campaign, following double silvers in February’s Asian Indoor Championships in Theran and the 400m hurdles gold in the Asian under-20 event in April.
In the field contests, Mana Hosseini dominated the women’s javelin throw event with a remarkable 50.57m attempt, beating Omani and Qatari contestants to the gold medal.
Asal Ali-Qoli and Mahya Naeimi, meanwhile, won the women’s high jump silver and bronze respectively, both registering a best attempt of 1.70m.
Iranians had won eight golds and six silvers on Day 2 in the southern Iraqi city, with Fatemeh Zahra Qalenoei (women’s 5km walk), Mohammadreza Tayyebi (men’s shot put), Masoud Kamran (men’s 110m hurdles), Reihaneh Mobini (women’s long jump), Toktam Dastarbandan (women’s 800m), Melika Norouzi (women’s hammer throw), and Hadiseh Raouf (women’s 300m hurdles) all finishing on the top podium in their respective disciplines.
The first day of the competitions had seen Hamidreza Zouravand (men’s 10km walk), Mahsa Mirza Tabibi (women’s pole vault), and Elham Hashemi (women’s shot put) come out on top across different contests as Iran won four golds and silvers apiece.