World Para Athletics Championships:
Record nine golds propel Iran to historic third place
Iran clinched a best-ever finish in 12 editions of the World Para Athletics Championships, placing third in New Delhi with 15 medals, including a record nine golds.
Mehran Nikoueimajd and Sadeq Beit Sayyah capped off the glorious nine-day campaign for the country at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in style by adding a couple of golds to Iran’s medal haul on Sunday.
Nikoueimajd registered a world record-breaking 12.27m throw on his final attempt in the shot put F34 showdown.
Jordan’s Ahmad Hindi, who had his world record shattered by the Iranian, settled for the silver with 11.87m, and reigning Paralympic champion Mauricio Valencia finished on 11.50m to take the bronze.
Later in the day, Beit Sayyah, who was stripped of the Paralympic title last year for his controversial celebration, redeemed himself by improving on his 2023 world silver in the javelin throw F41 contest.
The Iranian finished atop the podium thanks to a personal-best 48.86m effort, with India’s Navdeep Singh (45.46), who was handed the Paralympic gold in Paris, and China’s Sun Pengxiang (43.60) in the following spots.
Sunday’s glory came after the Iranians had also collected a couple of gold medals on the penultimate day of action in New Delhi.
Reigning Paralympic champion Yassin Khosravi was one of the three Iranian world-record breakers in the competitions, retaining his shot put dominance with a third successive world title in the men’s F57 class.
Khosravi registered a 16.60m effort on his final attempt in the men’s F57 class to improve his own world record – set in July 2023 – by an impressive 59 centimeters.
Ali Baziyar won the javelin F54 gold earlier on Saturday, with his compatriot Erfan Bondori settling for the bronze.
Saeid Afrooz, also a gold medalist in Paris, broke his own world record en route to glory in the javelin F34 division, while Amirhossein Alipour (F11), and Aliasghar Javanmardi (F35) claimed the ultimate prize in their respective men’s shot put events, with Mahdi Olad completing an all-Iranian one-two finish in the F11 category.
Hassan Bajoulvand, meanwhile, grabbed the gold medal in the men’s discus throw F11 division.
Elham Salehi was the sole Iranian gold medalist in the women’s competitions, winning the title in the javelin throw F54 contest – the Iranian girl’s second medal in New Delhi following a bronze in the shot put F54 event.
Zeinab Moradi won a bronze in the women’s javelin throw F56 class, while Iran’s only medal in the track events came in the women’s 400m T12 category, where Hajar Safarzadeh won a precious silver.
Amanollah Papi got Iran of the mark with a consolation bronze in the men’s javelin throw F57 on the second of the competitions.
Meanwhile, Brazil became only the second country, after Russia in 2013, to finish atop the overall medal table other than China, securing 15 golds, 20 silvers, and nine bronzes. The Asian powerhouse finished as the runner-up with 13 golds, 22 silvers, and 17 bronzes.
The team of Neutral Paralympic Athletes collected 11 golds, 16 silvers, and 19 bronze medals, though their results were excluded from the official standings by the sport’s international governing body.