Iranian female squad confirmed for Asian karate meet
Five Iranian girls secured their place at the kumite contests of the Asian Karate Championships – starting May 23 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan – after coming out on top in their respective weight classes at the national team trials in Tehran on Monday.
Former world bronze medalist Sara Bahmanyar claimed three victories in the -50kg contests to get a shot at a third Asian medal in four editions – following back-to-back third places in 2022 and 2023.
Fatemeh Sa’adati – an Asian bronze winner in 2023 – won three bouts and lost one to finish atop the -55kg event and punch her ticket for the Uzbek capital, while four successive victories secured the -61kg slot for Atousa Golshadnejad – a gold medalist at the Karate 1 Premier League series in Hangzhou, China, in March.
Mobina Kaviani and Hannaneh Salehi won the -68kg and +68kg divisions, respectively, to complete the Iranian kumite lineup.
A gold medalist in January’s Karate 1-Series A event in Tbilisi, Fatemeh Sadeqi continued her impressive form of late to win the individual kata contest and will be chasing a fifth Asian medal in Tashkent.
Meanwhile, the trio of Sepideh Amini, Melika Ezzati, Zeinab Hosseini won the team kata event and will be looking to improve on their Asian bronze in Hangzhou last year.
The female trials came after the men’s competitions took place in Tehran on the preceding day, where Behnam Dehqanzadeh (-55kg), Ali Meskini (-60kg), Reza Besharatikia (-67kg), Morteza Ne’mati (-75kg), and Mahmoud Ne’mati (+84kg) came out victorious across different classes.
The -84kg slot will be decided after reigning world silver medalist Mahdi Khodabakhshi recovers form an injury he suffered at the Karate 1 PL tournament in March.
Elsewhere, Ali Zand won the individual kata competition for a place in the Asian Championships, and was then joined by Abolfazl Shahrjerdi and Milad Farazmehr in a title-winning run in the team event.
The trio will be among the favorites for a podium finish in Tashkent, having teamed up for double silver and bronze medals apiece at the Asian Championships since 2017.
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