Asian Aquatics Championships:
Iran beats China for winning start in water polo event
Iranian men’s water polo team got off to a winning start at the Asian Aquatics Championships in Ahmedabad, India, defeating China 14-9 in their Group A opener on Saturday.
The victory saw Iranian men make amends for their last-four loss in February’s Asian Water Polo Championship, where China came out victorious in the shootout on home turf to progress to the final, before falling 14-11 to Japan.
Next for Mahdi Panamtash’s men in the group phase is a game against Hong Kong today, followed by a match against Uzbekistan on Monday.
Japan, Singapore, India, Thailand, and Kazakhstan – which beat Iran in the third-place contest in February’s showpiece in Zhaoqing – are in Group B of the competition.
Hamed Karimi, Amirhossein Amirian, Amirreza Jalilipour, Mahdi Barzegari, Amir Aqaei-Karim, Farbod Behzad-Sabouri, Ashkan Iranpour, Farbod Borqei, Amin Qavidel, Alireza Mehri, Arman Shams, Mersad Ahham, Mahdi Yazdankhah, Mehrab Golestanirad, and Erfan Sadrnia are the members of the Iranian team in Ahmedabad.