Judo jubilation as Parhizgar wins captures gold in Casablanca
Elyas Parhizgar claimed a gold medal to power the Iranian men’s judo team to a third-place finish at the Casablanca African Open 2026 in Morocco.
Russia dominated the men’s competition with a remarkable 12 medals – including five golds – while host nation Morocco took second place with one gold, one silver, and one bronze.
Parhizgar, an Asian junior silver medalist in 2024, defeated Angola’s Antonio Candeiro with a pin after 1 minute and 34 seconds to take the title in the men’s -81kg class.
The Iranian began his campaign with a win over Ivorian Konin Junior Emmanuel Kossan in Group A, then overcame Argentina’s Ivan Ferreyra and Dutch judoka Mika van Sinderen to reach the quarterfinals.
A victory over Bosnia’s Mustafa Hebib sent Parhizgar into the semifinals, where he beat Canada’s Olivier Gagnon by ippon to advance to the final.
Amir-Abbas Choopan added to Iran’s tally with a fifth-place finish in the men’s -90kg event, after falling to Russia’s Eldar Allakhverdiev in the bronze-medal contest.
Amirhossein Valizadeh (-73kg), Mohammadhossein Yaqouti, and Alireza Nikseresht (-100kg) also competed for Iran but did not medal in their respective weight classes.
Iran’s Sobhan Hakimi, meanwhile, secured an impressive silver in the men’s -81kg at the Cadet African Cup in Casablanca.
After a first-round bye, the young Iranian opened with a victory over local hopeful Yahya Benouna, then defeated Lithuania’s David Khatchatourian to reach the final, where he was undone by Estonia’s Aleksei Kikas to settle for silver.