Iran coach Hosseini pleased with ‘proper test’ for female weightlifters in Riyadh
Head coach Elham Hosseini said she “expected more” from the Iranian women’s weightlifting team at the Islamic Solidarity Games in Riyadh, though she was pleased that the event provided “a proper test for the young squad to reach world-class level.”
Represented by five weightlifters at the November event, Iran collected six medals across three women’s divisions in Riyadh, with 16-year-old prodigy Mahsa Beheshti headlining the haul with a clean and jerk gold, as well as snatch and total bronzes in the -86kg class.
Reihaneh Karimi bagged the C&J and total bronze medals in the -69kg category, while Alma Hosseini settled for bronze in the -77kg snatch contest.
“We had five contestants in Riyadh, three of whom had participated in the Asian Youth Games in Bahrain in late October, which made it somewhat tougher for them as they did not have much time to recover,” Hosseini told IRNA.
“The level of the ISG competition was similar to that of the Asian Championships, albeit without Chinese and North Korean weightlifters, though some top-notch participants from African countries like Nigeria and Egypt were present in Riyadh,” added the 37-year-old coach, who made history by winning triple gold at the 2022 Asian Championships – the first senior international gold medals for Iranian women’s weightlifting.
“There were also world and Olympic medalists taking part in the event, which was a privilege for our young weightlifters, who were able to compete at this level and succeeded in winning medals. Mahsa Beheshti delivered a sensational campaign despite being only 16.”
“She had just participated in a tough competition in Bahrain but still managed to match her training records to win three medals. Mahsa’s snatch and total results were equal to those of the second-place finisher, but in this tournament, the athlete who achieves the result earlier wins the medal, and in the end, Uzbekistan took the silver in both the snatch and total.”
“Alma, who had competed in the -69kg class in Bahrain, moved up to the -77kg category in Riyadh. Our main goal for her was simply to have a decent finish, and she ultimately succeeded in winning a bronze in the snatch.”
“Reihaneh, having won medals in the senior class in recent years, was someone we hoped would secure the top prize in Riyadh. However, she was under a lot of stress. Had she overcome her anxiety, she could have achieved some excellent results.”
“Riyadh was Sara Safavardi’s second international competition. She had competed for the first time in the Asian junior super-heavyweight category and performed relatively well at the senior level. However, we still expect higher numbers from our weightlifters. These competitions are a proper test for our athletes to raise their performance to world standards.”
“Three years ago, junior weightlifters were added to the national team, and now they have reached a level where they can compete with seniors. However, we must separate the junior, youth, and senior categories. We need to maintain this medal-winning trend by building a strong foundation. Currently, we are in a situation where we are using juniors in the senior category, but we must work hard to preserve our talent across all these levels.”
Regarding upcoming events, Hosseini said: “The national team training camp will get underway in late December. Our first competition will be the Asian Championships in April, followed by the World Junior Championships in Egypt in May. We will compete in four major tournaments before taking part in September’s Asian Games.”