Iran’s taekwondo girls keen to shine at World U21 Ch’ships as in Riyadh
Iranian girls will look to build on their impressive run at the Islamic Solidarity Games a fortnight ago when the World Taekwondo Under 21 Championships kicks off in Nairobi, Kenya, on Wednesday.
Just two weeks after a dire World Championships in Wuxi, where Iran finished empty-handed across eight women’s categories, head coach Mahrouz Saei took a team of low-profile but promising young talents to the multi-sport event in Riyadh – a gamble that paid off for the under-fire coach. Iran collected five medals in six weight classes in the Saudi capital, and now three of them will vie for glory at the inaugural Under-21 event in Nairobi.
Sayna Karimi enters the -46kg draw fresh off a stunning ISG campaign. In only her second senior international outing, the 19-year-old Iranian defeated Turkey’s reigning world champion Emine Göğebakan and went on to capture the gold without conceding a single round.
Rozhan Goodarzi (-51kg) and Hasti Mohammadi (-57kg) will be looking to take inspiration from their promising performances in Riyadh, where the two teenage prodigies settled for bronze in their weight categories. Meanwhile, Saghar Moradi will fancy her chances in the -57kg division, having already won a world silver and two Asian golds in the junior ranks, while Sara Soufi is aiming for a solid international breakthrough in the -73kg event.
Still, Mobina Nematzadeh remains the Iranian woman to watch when she gets her -53kg campaign underway in the Kenyan capital. A world junior champion in 2022, Nematzadeh stole the headlines when she won a precious -49kg bronze medal on her senior debut at last year’s Paris Olympics.
The 20-year-old was a hopeful at the World Championships last month, only to see her bid for glory come to an end in the round of 16 against eventual champion Merve Dinçel of Türkiye. Nematzadeh will be desperate to bounce back from the Wuxi setback as she has already set her sights on another Olympic success at LA 2028.
Zandi eyeing third gold
In the men’s competition, Abolfazl Zandi will spearhead the eight-man Iranian squad, aiming to add the Under-21 -58kg crown to the senior world gold he won in Wuxi, as well as his world junior title from 2022.
Joining Zandi on the Iranian team is Mahdi Razmian (-54kg), who enters the tournament as the reigning world and Asian junior champion, but suffered a second-round exit in Wuxi. Matin Rezaei will compete in the -68kg class, boasting the 2022 world and Asian titles in the junior ranks, plus a bronze medal at last year’s senior Asian Championships.
World junior champion Amirmohammad Ashrafi (+87kg) and former world cadet gold medalist Radin Zeinali (-74kg) will also be among the favorites in their respective categories.
Amirabbas Rahnama (-63kg), Amirreza Gholami (-80kg), and Mohammad Alizadeh (-87kg) complete the Iranian men’s lineup in Nairobi.