IWF World Championships:
Nasiri shines with double silvers, shatters junior world records
Iranian young gun Alireza Nasiri delivered an impressive performance on the penultimate day of the IWF World Championships, collecting double silver medals in the men’s 110kg event in Forde, Norway.
Abolfazl Zare’ was the other Iranian weightlifter in the class, posting a 176-210-386 record in the B Group to finish in the 12th spot.
Nasiri got off to a shaky start to his campaign, failing with his first two attempts, but overcame the 184kg weight – an Asian junior record – to stand seventh in the snatch table.
Needing a special display in the clean & jerk to make the podium, Nasiri rose to the occasion by lifting a junior world record of 231kg to secure the silver medal. An overall tally of 415kg – also a new high in the junior division – then saw the 20-year-old Iranian pip former world and Olympic champion Ruslan Nurudinov of Uzbekistan to the runner-up place in total.
“I underperformed in the snatch as I was a bit intimidated by the competition early on and missed my first two attempts. I still managed to make the third lift to stay in contention. The 183kg weight I missed twice in the snatch was actually light for me,” Nasiri said.
Regarding his bold decision to jump by seven kilograms for his third and final C&J attempt, Nasiri said, “I didn’t think about the weight at all. I just focused on the fact that I had to make this lift to win the medal I came here for.”
Meanwhile, Uzbekistan’s Akbar Djuraev – a silver medalist in last year’s Paris Olympics – dominated the class with a clean sweep of triple golds, while setting new world records in the snatch (196kg) and total (428kg).
Romania’s Luis Lauret (188kg) and Armenian Garik Karapetyan (187kg) won the snatch silver and bronze respectively, with Nurudinov settling for the C&J bronze.
Nasiri’s medals took Iran’s haul to five in Forde, after Alireza Moeini and Ali A’alipour had collected a gold and double silvers between them in the men’s 94kg event on the preceding night.
It was an all-Iranian one-two in the snatch, with Moeini walking away with the ultimate prize thanks to a 182kg lift with his third attempt – becoming Iran’s first world record holder since Sohrab Moradi.
A’alipour took the silver with 176kg – one kilogram clear of Colombian bronze winner Jokser Albornoz, who impressed from the B Group with three medals – while reigning Olympic champion Karlos Nasar settled for the fourth spot with 173kg.
The Bulgarian great, however, bounced back to dominate the C&J with a new world record of 222kg, with Albornoz (215kg) and Romain Imadouchène (211kg) of France in the following spots.
A’alipour missed two attempts to finish fourth in the C&J with 211kg – two kilograms above fifth-placed Moeini.
On 173-222-395, Nasar also won the total gold – four kilograms clear of Moeini, while A’alipour stood fourth.