Asian Rowing Championships:
Mojallal grabs gold as Iran finishes with five medals
Iran’s Fatemeh Mojallal capped off a decent campaign for the country at the Asian Rowing Championships in Haiphong, Vietnam, capturing the gold medal in the women’s single sculls contest on Sunday.
A silver medalist in the category last year, the Iranian girl clocked 8:31.11 minutes in the final to take her individual haul in Haiphong to two medals – following her bronze-winning campaign alongside Mahsa Javer in the double sculls event on the preceding day.
The physical toll of the final, however, forced Mojallal to pull out of the quadruple sculls showdown, prompting the Iranian team — last year’s silver medalist — to withdraw from the race.
Elsewhere, Zeinab Norouzi fell short of defending her title in the women’s lightweight single sculls category, finishing the final race in 8:224.75 minutes to settle for a silver medal behind her rival from Hong Kong, with the Kazakhstani contestant taking the bronze medal.
This was also a second medal in the competition for Norouzi, who teamed up with Kimia Zarei to secure the ultimate prize in the lightweight double sculls event on Saturday.
The Iranian pair clocked 7:30.22 minutes to outpace opponents from India, Thailand, Hong Kong, and the host country – a second Asian gold for the female duo following last year’s triumph in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
Iran’s single medal in the men’s competition came at Saturday’s lightweight double sculls showdown, where Amirhossein Mohammadpour and Amirreza Abdali crossed the finish line in 6:43.24 minutes and settled for the bronze behind gold-winning Indian pair and Uzbekistan.