Asian Taekwondo Championships:
Salimi leaves it late as Iranians dominate men’s competition with three golds
Iranians stole the show on the first two days of the men’s kyorugi contests at the Asian Taekwondo Championships in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, collecting three gold medals and a silver across four weight classes.
Abolfazl Zandi picked up where he left off in his gold-winning campaign at last October’s World Championships, defeating former world cadet champion Yang Hui-Chan of South Korea in successive rounds to win the top prize in the men’s 58kg category on Friday. This was the second Asian medal of Zandi’s career, following his bronze in the previous edition. A second men’s gold for the country came in the -74kg event, where world bronze medalist Amir-Sina Bakhtiari, who was given a shot at glory through an Asian Taekwondo Union invitation, defeated China’s Zhao Shan in two rounds of the final.
Friday’s triumphs came after Arian Salimi had grabbed the +87kg gold in spectacular fashion on the preceding day in the Mongolian capital.
Having suffered a last-16 exit at last year’s World Championships, Olympic champion Salimi was back to his ruthless form at the M-Bank Arena, marching into the final without conceding a single round in three bouts – including a semifinal victory over his familiar foe and reigning world champion Kang Sang-hyun of South Korea.
The 22-year-old sensation got off to a slow start in the final against Uzbekistan’s Marat Mavlonov, losing 7-7 on criteria in the first round, before bouncing back to win 6-3 in the second.
Mavlonov still thought he had done enough to bag the top prize when he took a 10-9 lead with three seconds left in a thrilling decisive round, but Salimi had other ideas, delivering a trademark three-point head kick in the final second to secure back-to-back Asian golds.
“This year’s event also serves as the qualification pathway for [September’s] Asian Games, which is why all leading taekwondo nations on the continent have come here with full-strength squads,” Salimi said of the high level of competition in Ulaanbaatar.
“The South Korean and Uzbek opponents were particularly tough. The South Korean is a two-time consecutive world champion, and my opponent in the final has numerous titles from Asian competitions. We had a very intense match,” added Salimi.
“This was only my second international tournament after the Paris Olympics, while the team entered the event off the back of difficult conditions amid the wartime circumstances in the country, so I still have room for improvement to reach the level I showed at the Olympics.
“My hometown training facilities were heavily damaged in the early days of the war and I had no place to train. I still managed to take part in the selection trials regardless, and thank God, in the end I achieved a good result for my dear people and brought smiles to their lips under these tough circumstances.”
Earlier on Thursday, Yasin Valizadeh opened Iran’s medal account with a silver in the -54kg weight class.
Valizadeh enjoyed an impressive run to the final on his senior debut at the Asian Championships, claiming three victories – including a straight-rounds win against Mahdi Razmian in an all-Iranian quarterfinal – before defeating Uzbekistan’s Jakhongir Khudayberdiev in the last four.
However, the Iranian fell in successive rounds against Jaafar Aldaoud – a second setback against the Jordanian following last year’s semifinal loss at the Fujairah Open – adding to his 2022 Asian junior bronze.
Elsewhere, Thursday’s results were one to forget for the Iranian women’s squad as the two contestants in action finished empty-handed in their respective events.
Masoumeh Ranjbar began her -46kg campaign with a 2-0 win against her South Korean opponent, but fell to prominent Chinese athlete Wang Shiyi – a world bronze medalist last year – in two rounds.
Teenage prodigy Wang Chieh-ling – a two-time world junior champion – defeated Thailand’s Patcharakan Poolkerd in the final to secure Taiwan’s first women’s title at the event in a decade.
In the +73kg event, Iran’s Baran Ahmadi had her run ended after two bouts, following a 2-0 defeat against Olympic silver medalist Svetlana Osipova of Uzbekistan, who went on to win the gold thanks to a final victory over South Korea’s Song Da-bin.
Featuring 338 contestants from 31 countries, the 27th edition of the Asian Championships will run until Sunday.
The dreadful campaign for the Iranian women’s squad continued on Friday with Mahla Momenzadeh and Baran Nemati crashing out in the -49kg and -73kg competitions, respectively.