Riyadh 2025 Islamic Solidarity Games:
Iran strikes futsal gold on prolific Day 4
Iranian athletes enjoyed a medal-laden fourth day at the Islamic Solidarity Games in Riyadh, collecting four golds, two silvers, and five bronzes on Tuesday.
The pinnacle of Tuesday’s action for Iran came in futsal, as Vahid Shamsaei’s men secured the gold medal with a decisive 5-0 victory over Morocco.
In a rematch of the group-stage encounter, which ended 2-2, Amirhossein Gholami and Mahdi Karimi were on target in the space of two minutes, before skipper Hossein Tayyebi’s sublime volley from a well-worked set-piece gave Iran a three-goal cushion at halftime.
Morocco desperately pushed forward to reduce the deficit, employing a power play for much of the second half. However, Iran remained solid in defense, with goalkeeper Baqer Mohammadi producing a string of heroic saves, before Tayyebi and Gholami added late goals to seal the victory.
As if Iranians needed more reason to celebrate at fulltime, the triumph saw the Asian powerhouse avenge last year’s World Cup last-16 defeat to the African champion.
Glittering girls
Elsewhere in Riyadh, Iranian girls spearheaded the country’s gold rush in karate and weightlifting on Tuesday.
Fatemeh Sadeqi improved on her Konya 2021 silver by defeating Türkiye’s Dilara Bozan 42.4-40.3 for the ultimate prize in the women’s individual kata.
Meanwhile, former world bronze medalist Sara Bahmanyar defeated Uzbekistan’s Gulshan Alimardanova 6-4 in a thrilling women’s kumite -50kg final to claim the second ISG medal of her career, following her bronze in the 2021 edition.
Iranian weightlifter Mahsa Beheshti also finished on a high note in the Saudi capital by grabbing three medals, including a clean and jerk gold, in the women’s 86kg class.
Beheshti lifted 104kg to win the bronze, before a successful 134kg effort secured the top spot in C&J for the 15-year-old sensation.
A total tally of 238kg then saw Beheshti win her second bronze of the afternoon, finishing behind Egypt’s Rahma Ahmed Elsayed and Rigina Adashbaeva of Uzbekistan.
There was further success for the country in weightlifting as Alma Hosseini Alma Hosseini won a bronze medal in the women’s 77kg category thanks to a 97kg lift in the snatch contest.
The men’s 94kg event, however, proved a modest outing for Iranian Alireza Moeini, who had claimed a snatch gold – setting a world record in the process – and total silver at last month’s World Championships.
Moeini lifted 171kg in the snatch, 11 kilograms short of his world record, to settle for silver, before taking the clean and jerk bronze and total silver with 203kg and 374kg, respectively.
Mohammad Gholami won his second bronze in the swimming event, standing third in the men’s 200m freestyle.
The 17-year-old Iranian clocked 1:50.63 minutes to finish behind Turkish gold medalist Ahmet Mete Boylu (1:48.65) and Ilya Sibirtsev (1:50.04) of Uzbekistan.
Gholami was also part of the Iranian quartet – alongside Mohammad Qassemi, Ali Rashidpour, and Matin Sohran – that finished with the bronze in the men’s 4×200m freestyle relay.
Tuesday’s outcome took Iran’s medal haul to six golds, four silvers, and 14 bronzes, leaving the country in the sixth place of the overall table by the end of the fourth day.