AKF Cadet, Junior & U21 Championships:
Iranians notch up 22 medals, finish runner-up to Japan
A remarkable 22 medals, including seven golds, across different age classes saw Iran finish runner-up to Japan at the AKF Cadet, Junior & U21 Championships Shaoguan, China.
Japan collected 12 golds, two silvers, and five bronzes to claim the team trophy, with Kazakhstan in the third place with four golds, three silvers, and 10 bronze medals.
On Sunday, Yalda Naqibeiranvand, Mehrnegar Ahmadi, and Hannaneh Salehi (+68kg) rounded off their dominant campaigns with a gold medal in the women’s kumite under-21 category, while Hossein Vafa (-67kg) defeated Kyrgyzstan’s Erlan Akylbek Uulu 9-3 to walk away with the ultimate prize in the men’s U21 contests.
Naqibeiranvand overcame Taipei opponent Chan Hsin-Yu (5-0) in the -50kg final, while Ahmadi beat Kazakhstan’s Aizhan Bakirova 2-1 for the -61kg gold, with Salehi outclassing Begimai Orozalieva of Kyrgyzstan 6-1 in the +68kg showdown.
Meanwhile, Mohammad-Javad Safari (men’s -75kg), Abolfazl Hamdamjou (men’s -60kg), and Fatemeh Zahra Saeidi (women’s -55kg) added three silvers to Iran’s medal haul in the under-21 class, with Mahan Mirzaei winning a bronze in the men’s +84kg division.
Sunday’s medals came after the Iranians had bagged six junior medals on the preceding night in Shaoguan.
Ghazal Fat’hi was the sole Iranian gold medalist in the junior contests, courtesy of a 4-0 victory over Ho Cheok In of Macau in the women’s -48kg final.
There was, however, final disappointments for the Iranians in the men’s junior competitions, as Mohammad Abdollahi (-61kg), Arya Yousefi (-68kg), and Mi’aad Shafei (+76kg) had to settle for the silver in their respective weight classes.
Abdollahi fell to an 11-3 loss to Kazakhstan’s Turar Kalpakbay, while Yousefi suffered a 5-1 loss to the host’s Liu Jiachen, with Shafei beaten 1-0 by Begzod Zoirov of Uzbekistan.
Iran’s fourth silver medal on Sunday came in the men’s individual kata event, where Amirreza Mosalman fell short against Japan’s Takeru Hamazawa in the final.
Zahra Rezazadeh, meanwhile, finished her campaign with a consolation bronze in the women’s -53kg division, bouncing back from a setback against Japanese Miko Shishido opponent to beat Nepal’s Sonam Sherpa and share the third podium with Ssu Chia-Ying of Chinese Taipei.
Iran had also won eight medals – including double women’s kumite golds – in the youth class.
Setayesh Qaneiefard defeated Malaysian Lalitaanjali Ravindran 3-0 in the -54kg final, with Setayesh Afshar coming out on top against Thailand’s Chonlada Nisangkat 4-2 in the +61kg showpiece.
Arshia Mo’alemi (-63kg) and Faryar Bahadori (-70kg), meanwhile, settled for a couple of silver medals in the boys’ kumite competitions, with Ava Farmani (-47kg) and Dina Karimi (-61kg) finishing with a bronze in the women’s draw.
Iran also bagged two team kata bronzes in the combined cadet and junior event.
Amirreza Chamani, Amirali Mirzazadeh, Matin Farimand, and Ata Farimand teamed up for a third-place finish in the boys’ contest.
The quadruple of Dina Safari, Fatemeh Sehatbakhsh, Hannaneh Nourollahzadeh, and Kowsar Ranjbar took the bronze in the girls’ contest.