Asian Aquatics Championships:
Shootout heartbreak as Iran settles for water polo silver
Iranian water polo national team settled for the men’s silver medal at the Asian Aquatics Championships after suffering a shootout loss to China in Saturday’s final in Ahmedabad, India.
The two sides shared the spoils in a thrilling 11-11 draw before China came out victorious 5-4 in the shootout showdown to walk away with the ultimate prize.
This was Iran’s second shootout heartbreak against China at a major tournament in seven months, following the last-four setback in March’s Asian Water Polo Championships in the Chinese city of Zhaoqing.
The Iranian team will still have every reason to be proud of its impressive campaign in Ahmedabad.
Mahdi Panamtash’s men began the event with a 14-9 win against China in their Group A opener, and then went on to breeze past Hong Kong (22-10) and Uzbekistan (28-7) to progress to the knockouts as the group winner.
Iran hammered Thailand 21-6 in the quarterfinals, before edging out Japan – Asian champion in March – 19-18 for a place in the final showpiece.
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 were the members of the Iranian team in Ahmedabad.
Saturday’s medal marked Iran’s second major silver medal in the continent after a runner-up finish to China at the 2023 Asian Water Polo Championship in Singapore. Iran also won the Asian Championship bronze in 1984 and 1995, while grabbing the gold on home soil at the 1974 Asian Games in Tehran, as well as the 2018 bronze in Jakarta.
Earlier on Saturday, Kazakhstan defeated Japan 16-14 in the third-place contest.
China completed a clean sweep of water polo golds, thanks to a 22-17 win against Japan in the women’s final.