Asian Taekwondo Championships:
Iranian quadruple finish empty-handed in poomsae event
Iran got off to a disappointing start at the Asian Taekwondo Championships in Ulaanbaatar, as the country’s four participants all missed out on a podium finish in the individual poomsae contests.
Competing in the men’s freestyle under-30 class, Yassin Akbari scored 8.6 points to progress to the final, before an 8.36-point performance saw the Iranian settle for sixth place in the final standings. The outcome, however, was enough for Akbari to secure qualification for the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Games in September.
Yasaman Limouchi represented the country in the women’s freestyle event, finishing ninth in the preliminaries with 7.4 points to miss out on the final showdown.
In the individual male under-30 contests, Yassin Zandi began his campaign with a victory over Yubraj Rana of Nepal but suffered a setback against Muhammad Riza of Indonesia to crash out in the round of 16.
The women’s event was one to forget for two-time world silver medalist Marjan Salahshouri, who defeated Hong Kong’s Tsz Ki Liu in their opener but was undone by South Korea’s Jooyeong Lee in the last 16.
Iran will still eye poomsae glory in the Mongolian capital when the team competitions get underway today.
Given a bye in the first round, Zandi and Salahshouri will team up against the winner of the battle between the Filipino and Singaporean duos in the mixed pair quarterfinals, while Akbari and Limouchi will compete in the freestyle team event.
The poomsae competitions will be followed by the kyorugi contests on Thursday.
Yassin Valizadeh will get Iran’s Asian team title defense underway in the -54kg division, while reigning Olympic champion Arian Salimi will be among the favorites in the +87kg class, aiming to make up for a below-par World Championships campaign last year – where he suffered a last-16 exit – by defending his continental title.
In the women’s event, Masoumeh Ranjbar will compete in the -46kg class, while Fatemeh Ahmadi will be part of the +73kg draw.