Asian Karate Championships:
Iran storms into men’s, women’s team kumite finals
Iran advanced to the men’s and women’s team kumite finals at the AKF Asian Karate Championships in Bali, Indonesia, securing places at the Team World Cup in Hangzhou, China, in November.
The Iranian men’s team of Saleh Abazari, Esmaeil Motamedi, Mahdi Ashouri, Mahdi Shagol, Bahman Asgari, and Aliasghar Asiabari overcame Nepal and Vietnam before defeating Japan in the semifinals.
Abazari, Motamedi, and Asiabari won their bouts, while Ashouri suffered a defeat in the semifinal clash. Iran will look to avenge last year’s final loss to Jordan in today’s gold-medal contest.
Featuring Sara Bahmanyar, Mobina Heidari, Fatemeh-Zahra Saeidabadi, and Hannaneh Salehi, the Iranian women’s team, meanwhile, began its campaign with a 2-1 (17-4) victory over Chinese Taipei. Bahmanyar fell short against her opponent, but Saeidabadi and Heidari posted 11-1 and 5-0 victories, respectively, to send Iran through.
Saeidabadi and Heidari again emerged victorious as Iran defeated Uzbekistan 2-0 (7-0) to set up a semifinal showdown with Vietnam.
Salehi gave Iran a flying start against the three-time defending champion, winning 7-4, before a third victory of the day for Saeidabadi, a commanding 10-0 result, sealed a 2-0 triumph for head coach Pegah Zangeneh’s team.
Standing between the Iranian women and a first Asian team gold since 2019 in today’s showdown is Japan – last year’s joint bronze medalist alongside Iran – which defeated South Korea, Indonesia, and Thailand en route to the final.
Brothers Morteza and Mahmoud Nemati will also be chasing gold medals in their respective men’s kumite events today.
A silver medalist in Tashkent last year, Morteza Nemati outclassed Japan’s Sakiyama Yusei 9-2 to progress to the -75kg final, where he will look to make amends for last year’s title-match defeat to Kazakhstan’s Nurkanat Azhikanov, who is targeting a third title in four continental championships.
Mahmoud Nemati then capped an emphatic semifinal performance in the +84kg class with an impressive 12-2 victory over Japan’s Kentaro Yamauchi. The Iranian will also face a reigning Asian champion in today’s final, taking on Saudi Arabia’s Sanad Sufyani.
Former world bronze medalist Asiabari, meanwhile, fell short of advancing to the -84kg final after suffering a 13-9 defeat to defending champion Mohammad Al-Jafari of Jordan. He bounced back from the semifinal setback to beat India’s Chetan Bhatt 16-7 for a bronze medal on Friday, taking Iran’s haul to five bronze medals by the end of the second day of action in Bali.
Mehrnegar Ahmadi also claimed a kumite bronze medal thanks to a 6-1 victory over Vietnam’s Nguyen Thi Man in the women’s -61kg division, while the Iranian trio of Fatemeh Sadeqi, Sepideh Amini, and Zeinab Hosseini defeated Hong Kong 5-2 in the bronze-medal playoff of the women’s team kata event.
It was Sadeqi’s second bronze medal in Bali after she had defeated China’s Tao Yiwei 6-1 to secure a third-place finish in individual kata on the opening day – the Iranian’s fifth bronze medal in the history of the competition.
Ali Zand had opened Iran’s account with a bronze medal in the men’s individual kata on Thursday, courtesy of a 7-0 victory over China’s Zheng Qianqu in the third-place match.