Riyadh 2025 Islamic Solidarity Games:
Iran claims wushu, taekwondo success; closes gap on Uzbekistan
The ninth day of the Islamic Solidarity Games proved to be Iran’s most productive yet, yielding a remarkable 10 medals – including five golds – across wushu and taekwondo, as the country closed the gap on second-placed Uzbekistan in the overall standings in Riyadh.
Having bagged 42 medals over the first eight days, Iran added five golds, three silvers, and two bronzes on Sunday to draw level with Uzbekistan on 16 golds, though still trailing by four fewer silvers (15).
Iranians dominated in wushu, capturing four gold medals across six sanda classes.
Farbod Taleshi, meanwhile, settled for silver in the men’s -85kg division on his senior international debut after a final defeat to Egypt’s Alhussein Wahdan. In the women’s -70kg category, an untimely leg injury on the eve of the Games ultimately cost Shahrbanoo Mansourian dearly in the semifinal against Egypt’s Mennatallah Aly, with the six-time world champion finishing with a consolation bronze.
Mansourian’s younger sister, Soheila, however, finished on a high note by defeating Egypt’s Habiba Abouomar in the -60kg final, adding ISG gold to the world title she claimed in September.
The other women’s final featuring Iranian and Egyptian contestants saw Sara Shafiei beat Shahd Abdelsadek for the ultimate prize in the -56kg category.
In the men’s competition, Amirhossein Hemmati emerged victorious against Youssif Hamoda – also from Egypt – in the -60kg final, while reigning world champion Erfan Moharrami captured the gold medal in the -70kg class, thanks to a final victory over Kyrgyzstan’s Abror Khakimov.
In taekwondo, the Iranians picked up where they left off on the opening day, with all four contestants medaling in their respective events.
Ali-Asghar Alimoradian spearheaded Iran’s haul on Sunday, rallying past 2021 Asian champion Mohsen Rezaei of Afghanistan (0-1, 15-0, 6-3) in the men’s -60kg final.
Amirreza Sadeqian overcame high-profile Jordanian Saleh Elsharabaty – a silver medalist at the Tokyo Olympics – to reach the men’s -82kg final, only to suffer a straight-round defeat (6-2, 9-8) against Morocco’s Haitam Zarhouti and settle for silver.
A win over Ozoda Sobirjonova would have seen Yalda Valinejad propel Iran past Uzbekistan in the medals table, but the Iranian suffered a narrow 2–1 defeat (9-4, 7-8, 8-7) in a thrilling women’s -70kg showdown.
“Taekwondo is a sport of moments and narrow margins. In the last 10 seconds, I took a kick to the face and lost the match,” Valinejad said after the final setback.
Regarding her emotions after the loss, Valinejad said: “I came here for the gold medal and was determined to win it. Losing the match in the final 10 seconds was devastating – it still hurts – but that’s part of the game, and I’ve learned from this experience.”
Rozhan Goodarzi, meanwhile, ensured the young Iranian women’s squad stayed on course for a clean sweep of medals, bouncing back from a semifinal loss to world silver medalist Elif Sude Akgül of Türkiye to beat Uzbekistan’s Laylo Khasanova 2-0 (2-0, 8-2) for the -51kg bronze.
Elsewhere, the Iranian men’s handball team recovered from a first-day defeat against Qatar to rout the Maldives 57-14 in Group A.
Saber Heidari and Arman Rahmani led Iran’s scoring chart with 12 goals apiece, with Milad Qalandari adding 10.