Asian Karate Championships:
Abazari wins sole gold as Iran finishes with 11 medals
Saleh Abazari saved Iran’s campaign at the Asian Karate Championships in Hangzhou, China, as his last-gasp kumite triumph made sure the country would not leave the event without a gold for the first time in the new millennium.
Iran’s haul of 11 medals was the highest in the 20th edition of the competitions, though the country still had to settle for an under-par sixth place in the medals table, following Japan, Vietnam, Kazakhstan, Hong Kong, and China.
Representing Iran in the men’s +84kg contests, Abazari defeated Japanese Kyo Hirata – Asian champion in 2022 – 6-0 for the ultimate prize, an eighth Asian medal for the Iranian, who also won the kumite gold of the weight class in 2018.
The first final showpiece featuring Iranian and Japanese karatekas on Sunday saw Mahdi Khodabakhshi suffer a loss to Rikito Shimada and take the -84kg silver.
Earlier on the final day, six Iranians finished their campaigns with a consolation bronze.
Former world champion Bahman Asgari claimed his eighth Asian medal thanks to a 10-2 victory over Tong Yu-cheng of Hong Kong in the men’s -75kg third-place bout, while Behnam Dehghanzadeh – a gold medalist last year – defeated Uzbekistan’s Dilmurod Kamoliddinov 8-2 for the -55kg bronze.
In the women’s draw, Atousa Golshadnejad, also an Asian champion in the previous edition, bounced back from a last-four heartbreak against reigning world champion Gong Li of China to beat Malaysian Zakiah Adnan in the -61kg contests.
Mobina Heidari (-68kg) and Taravat Khaksar (-55kg) also bagged a couple of kumite bronze medals for Iran, with Fatemeh Sadeghi beating Macao’s Sou Soi Lam (40.5-38.6) to the women’s kata bronze.
Sunday’s results came a day after Iran had collected three team bronzes in Hangzhou.
The Iranian men’s kumite team missed out on the Asian gold for the first time since the 2021 edition, but still managed to beat Kuwait 3-0 – courtesy of victories for Morteza Ne’mati, Mahdi Ashouri, and Mahdi Ganjzadeh – to win the bronze.
The trio of Ali Zand, Abolfazl Shahrjerdi, and Milad Farazmehr defeated Saudi Arabia for a third Asian bronze in the men’s team kata, while Sepideh Amini, Melika Ezzati, and Zeinab Hosseini came out on top against the Philippines to finish on the third podium in the women’s event.