IWF World Youth & Junior Championships:
Heavyweight dominance as Iran seals men’s junior title
A medal-laden final day of the IWF World Youth & Junior Championships saw Iranian weightlifters grab three golds and double silvers to complete one-two finishes in the men’s junior 109kg and +109kg contests in Lima, Peru.
Monday’s heroics took Iran’s haul to eight gold and silver medals apiece, plus triple bronzes as Sohrab Moradi’s 10-man squad won the team title with 725 points, with Colombia and Venezuela in the following spots, respectively.
Hamidreza Mohammadi-Tanha brought the curtain down on a glittering campaign for the country by making a clean sweep of three superheavyweight (+109kg) golds.
The Iranian had three successful attempts in the snatch event with a final lift of 181kg giving him the edge over compatriot Taha Ne’mati-Moqaddam, who took the silver with 180kg, while Russian Georgii Myand, competing as a neutral, settled for the bronze with 175kg.
Mohammadi had a rather shaky clean & jerk event later in the day, failing with two attempts, though a 213kg lift was still enough to secure a second gold for the Iranian young gun, who went on to clinch the total title with a 181-213-394 record.
Ne’mati again finished one kilogram shy of his fellow-Iranian in the C&J contest, before collecting a third silver with 392kg in total.
Polish weightlifter Marek Mateusz Gugala won the C&J bronze with 208kg, while Myand took his second bronze medal with 382kg in total.
Earlier on Monday, Iranian Alireza Nasiri was in a league of his own in the 109kg contests, dominating with three gold medals.
Nasiri has been making 230kg clean and jerks in training – enough for the junior world record – but he declined his final attempt after five successful lifts and finished 30kg clear in total on 180-220-400.
“I was tired and because it was one lift straight after the other I didn’t feel ready for the world record today – but I know I can do it,” Nasiri said.
Nasiri competed at 102kg last year, when he was second in the Asian Juniors to the junior world record holder Shahzadbek Matyakubov on 171-218-389. “I felt better at 102 but I wanted to come up in weight because I want to be going for gold at the Los Angeles Olympics,” said the Iranian. “The category will be 110 there. I am 19 and I can improve a lot in three years.”
Meanwhile, Nasiri’s compatriot Farhad Qolizadeh, who won the Asian youth title on his last international appearance two years ago, had a slow start in the 109kg event, finishing fourth in snatch, but still managed to finish on 165-205-370 for the C&J and total silvers.
Monday’s medals came after Abolfazl Zare’ had registered a 176-210-386 tally to walk away with the snatch gold, plus double silvers, in the 102kg event on the preceding night.
Hamidreza Zarei lifted 203kg for the clean & jerk gold in the 96kg event, while Amirhossein Sepah collected the snatch and C&J bronzes, before winning the total silver of the weight class with 165-199-364.
Iliya Salehipour added a bronze medal to Iran’s junior haul when he raised 195kg above his head in the 89kg C&J category.
Hossein Yazdani was the only Iranian in the men’s youth competitions, grabbing double golds and a snatch bronze (144-190-334) in the +102kg division.
Iran was also represented by three girls in the Peruvian capital, with Alma Hosseini winning the clean & jerk silver and total bronze in the youth 64kg contests.