Asian Youth and Junior Weightlifting Championships:
Gold rush continues as Iran collects nine medals on Day 5
Iranians continued their prolific run at the Asian Youth and Junior Weightlifting Championships, bagging nine medals, including triple golds, on the penultimate day of the event in Doha, Qatar.
Representing the country in the men’s junior event, Amirhossein Sepah walked away with a snatch gold, coupled with the clean & jerk and total silvers, with a 162-187-349 tally in the 96kg contests.
Joining Sepah on the podium was Mohammad Esfandiari, who registered 152-182-334 to make a clean sweep of three bronze medals.
There was further glory for Iran in the youth category of the weight class, with Hamidreza Zarei winning three medals apiece.
The Iranian finished runner-up in the snatch discipline with a 146kg effort, and then won the ultimate prizes of the C&J and total categories, courtesy of 188kg and 334kg records.
Tuesday’s results took Iran’s haul to 30 medals, including seven golds, at the event.
Amirmohammad Rahmati headlined the country’s medal hunt on Monday, collecting three medals, including one gold, in the men’s youth 81kg class.
A 140kg lift in his third effort saw the Iranian claim the snatch gold, before his bronze-winning 167kg effort in the clean & jerk discipline was followed by the total silver on 307kg.
Elsewhere in the men’s competitions, Ilia Salehipour and Alireza Abbaspour won six medals between them in the junior 89kg event.
Salehipour won the snatch silver with 161kg, and then went on to register 195kg for the C&J bronze, before adding the total silver to his account with 356kg.
Abbaspour, meanwhile, settled for the snatch bronze with 159kg, but finished one kilogram clear of his fellow-Iranian to take the clean & jerk silver.
A total tally of 355kg helped Abbaspour finish his campaign with a second bronze medal.
In the women’s youth draw, Asal Kadkhodaei missed out on the snatch and C&J podiums in the 81kg weight class, finishing fourth on both occasions, but still managed to win the total bronze with an 87-106-193 record.