World Wushu Championships:
Historic taolu triumph as Iranian women grab four golds
Iranian women stole the show on the penultimate day of World Wushu Championships, collecting four gold medals in Brasilia, Brazil.
Zahra Kiani etched her name into history books on Saturday by grabbing a maiden taolu gold for Iran at the world event.
Representing the country in the women’s qiangshu contest, Kiani scored 9.763 points to walk away with the ultimate prize, with Indonesian Patricia Geraldine (9.756) and Dương Thúy Vi (9.746) of Vietnam settling for silver and bronze, respectively.
This was Kiani’s second history-making campaign in a year after she had won Iran’s first individual talou gold at the Asian Championships last September.
Meanwhile, Soheila and Shahrbanou Mansourian as well as Sediqeh Daryaei added three sanda golds to Iran’s medal haul in women’s competitions.
Daryaei came out victorious (2-0) against Turkey’s Sudenaz Gulay in the 65kg final, while Soheila Mansourian defeated China’s Ruiping Chen in straight rounds to win the 70kg gold.
Shahrbanou Mansourian bagged a sixth world gold medal in her illustrious career, thanks to a 2-0 victory over Indian Shivani Prajapati in the 75kg showdown.
Soheil Mousavi suffered a last-four setback against Li Weijin of Hong Kong to finish his campaign with a consolation bronze in the men’s 80kg category.
Iranians enjoyed further glory in the men’s sanda contests on Saturday, as Shoja Panahi (65kg), Erfan Moharrami (70kg), and Mohsen Mohammad-Seifi progressed to the final showpiece of their respective events.
Saturday’s medals came after Iran had collected a sanda gold and taolu bronze earlier in the capital.
Mahdi Moradi made quick work of Cruz Pérez, knocking out the Mexican in the first round, on Friday to claim the men’s 90kg gold.
Shahin Banitalebi – a gold medalist at The World Games in August – scored 9.733 points to finish third in the men’s nandao event, with Hong Kong’s Lau Chi Lung (9.763) and his compatriot Deng Longteng (9.740) collecting the gold and silver, respectively.