Asian Youth and Junior Weightlifting Championships:
Iran grabs 50 medals, wins men’s junior title
Iran enjoyed a prolific run at the Asian Youth and Junior Weightlifting Championships, collecting a remarkable 50 medals across the men’s and women’s competitions.
The pinnacle of the Iranians’ campaign in Doha came in the men’s junior contests, where the 10-man squad tallied 727 points to beat Uzbekistan (684pts) and Saudi Arabia (594pts) to the title.
Superheavyweight Hamidreza Mohammadi brought the curtain down on a glorious campaign for Iran on Wednesday, registering a 177-225-402 performance to make a clean sweep of three silver medals in the men’s junior +109kg event.
There was further final-day glory for the country in the women’s draw, with Sara Safaverdi winning the snatch silver in the +87kg class with a best effort of 100kg, while Ma’soumeh Hosseini settled for the snatch bronze in the youth +81kg event.
Iran stood fourth in a tight women’s junior race with 577 points, following Kazakhstan (598pts), Chinese Taipei (586), and India (584).
Ariya Paydar headlined Iranian men’s medal haul in the Qatari capital with three golds in the junior 109kg event.
Mehrab Davasari, Amirmohammad Rahmati, Hamidreza Zarei, and Amirhossein Sepah were also among the gold winners, as Iran finished with eight golds, 15 silvers, and 12 bronzes.
Haniyeh Sharifi, meanwhile, spearheaded Iranian women across the youth and junior categories with the total and C&J golds, as well as the snatch silver in the junior 71kg contests.
Iranian girls bagged double golds, five silvers, and eight bronzes.