Asian Beach Games:
Kabaddi kudos as Iran wins men’s gold
The Iranian beach kabaddi team added a second gold to the country’s medal count at the Asian Beach Games in Sanya, China, thanks to an impressive 44-31 victory over the sport’s powerhouse, India, in the men’s final on Monday.
The victory capped off a run of four successive wins for the Iranian team, which had beaten Pakistan (38-28), Bangladesh (47-31), and Syria (53-31) in the group stage.
Hassan Ajami had opened Iran’s account in the multi-sport event by grabbing the top prize in the men’s shot put on Sunday.
Elsewhere in the Games, Iran continued its perfect run in men’s beach handball on Day 7, defeating the host in successive periods.
Mahdi Qashqaei’s men won the first period 21-14 before coming out victorious in the second by a 20-10 scoreline at the Tianya Haijiao venue to complete a clean sweep of five victories and progress to the semifinals as Group A winners.
Standing between Iran and a final spot today will be Thailand, which defeated Bangladesh 2-0 (19-16, 18-6) earlier in the day to finish runner-up to Qatar in Group B on set difference.
Qatar and Bahrain will square off in the other semifinal today, with the two winners going head-to-head for the gold medal on Thursday.
In beach volleyball, the Iranian pair of Abolhassan Khakizadeh and Amirali Qalenovi headed into the men’s last four with a straight-set victory (21-10, 21-14) over Lebanon’s Hadi El Chabib and Jad Abi Karam.
The country, however, was denied an all-Iranian semifinal today after the duo of Alireza Aqajani and Abbas Pourasgari surrendered a one-set lead to lose 2-1 (14-21, 21-17, 15-9) to Oman’s Mazin Al Hashimi and Hood Rashid Al Jalaboubi – a massive setback for the Iranian Team A, which had not conceded a single set in five outings prior to the last-eight clash.
“My words fail me, and for that, I feel ashamed before the Iranian people and coaching staff,” a stunned Aqajani said after the defeat.
“We really had done a good analysis, and as you saw, we did well to win the first set.
“Physically, especially with my knee and shoulder, I was under a lot of pressure. In the third set, I just couldn’t play my game.
“We had a decent run in the tournament, but there was perhaps a bit of complacency on our part today, and we just couldn’t manage the game properly – not to mention we weren’t able to play in any warm-up tournament before the Games due to the wartime circumstances,” added the Iranian.
Iran’s 3x3 basketball team, meanwhile, recovered from Sunday’s defeat against China to beat the Philippines 21-14 in men’s Group A.
Mohammad-Mahdi Rahimi topped the scoring chart for the country with eight points as Iran finished runner-up to the Philippines with two wins in three matches, joining China in today’s play-ins for a place in the quarterfinals.
In men’s water polo, Iran pulled off a sensational fightback to beat Asian heavyweight Kazakhstan 3-2.
The Iranian team conceded 2-1 and 5-4 defeats in the first two quarters but bounced back to win the next two 3-2 and 2-1, respectively, and force the contest into shootouts, where Iran prevailed 3-2 to remain on top of the table in the round-robin competition with three wins, following triumphs over Hong Kong (3-1) and South Korea (3-1).
Next for Iran is a game against Thailand today, followed by a potential gold decider against China on Wednesday.