Nematzadeh to miss Asian Games with torn ligament
Iranian taekwondo has been dealt a major blow as women’s young prodigy Mobina Nematzadeh will miss September’s Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games due to a torn ligament injury.
An Olympic bronze medalist at Paris 2024, Nematzadeh – who also claimed gold at the U21 World Championships last December – was part of the Iranian roster at the Asian Championships last week but endured a below-par campaign in Ulaanbaatar, suffering a third-round exit against South Korea’s Seo Yeo-won in the -53kg class.
“I tore my ACL a month before the Asian Championships, and only my family knows what I went through. My goal was to make my people happy by winning the gold, but the knee injury simply did not allow me to perform at my best,” Nematzadeh said on Sunday.
“I will be sidelined for around nine months and miss the Asian Games. A selection trial between Nahid Kiani and me had been planned to decide the Asian Games spot, but it is now called off as I’ll have to undergo surgery next week.
“I would like to ask my people to send me their positive thoughts and support,” added the 20-year-old.
Her injury setback marks another twist in the two-horse race with Kiani for a place at the 2028 Olympics, though the 20-year-old remains confident of her chances to secure a quota for the Los Angeles Games.
“This year’s Grand Prix tournaments are not especially significant in terms of Olympic qualification. From next year onward, points earned at the World Championships and at a Grand Prix event held before the world showpiece will be taken into account, and I believe that winning the world gold medal could completely turn things around for me,” said Nematzadeh.
On her domestic rivalry with Kiani, Nematzadeh said, “We are like two friends in national team training and two rivals who can help each other improve.
“I’m not really into bragging, and I think my victories against her in the previous two meetings at the President’s Cup and the Iranian league last year speak for themselves. I’m sure I’ll be back at my best once I recover from this injury.”
Iran will still fancy a successful -57kg campaign at the Asian Games, as Olympic silver medalist Kiani is all but guaranteed a berth at the multi-sport showpiece.
Kiani, who had recovered from knee surgery in time to make it to the Asian Championships, defeated Uzbekistan’s Madina Mirabzalova in straight rounds in the -57kg final to add to the continental title she won in 2022.
Her triumph in the Mongolian capital, coupled with Yalda Valinejad’s bronze in the -62kg division on the final day, saved the day for the Iranian women’s squad, who had been left empty-handed across the other six categories.
“Three or four of our athletes fell short of expectations. We had expected more from them, but they were unable to implement the technical aspects of their game effectively during the competition,” said Iranian head coach Mahrouz Saei, whose team finished fourth in the women’s standings.
“Expectations were particularly high for Mobina. It is true that she was dealing with a serious ACL injury, but if we had believed she was not fit enough to compete, we would not have sent her to the tournament.
“Overall, I am pretty satisfied with the team’s performance. Since these championships also served as the qualifiers for the Asian Games, we took a significant risk by sending five unranked athletes.
“I have a high tolerance for risk when it comes to trusting youth, and thank God, even though some of the athletes did not win medals here, we still secured full qualification quotas,” Saei added.