Asian Cadet Judo Championships:
Historic feat as Shakibaei wins women’s gold
Iran’s Mahsa Shakibaei made history by winning the country’s first-ever gold medal at the Asian Cadet Judo Championships on Thursday.
The teenage judoka achieved the milestone with a victory over Chinese Taipei’s Lin Pei-Hsin in the women’s -52kg final in Amman, Jordan.
Shakibaei produced a series of commanding performances to stand atop the podium, opening her campaign with a victory over Uzbekistan’s Kumushbibi Ergasheva to advance to the semifinals. She then defeated Syria’s Sham Almawardi to book her place in the gold-medal contest.
The triumph adds to an already impressive résumé for Shakibaei, who also won gold at last year’s Asian Youth Games in Bahrain, further underlining her status as one of the country’s brightest young prospects.
Elsewhere, Iran’s Reza Nejadkachiani finished empty-handed in the men’s -55kg division.
The Iranian opened with a victory over Kuwait’s Hussain Mumen before defeating Kyrgyzstan’s Ramis Asilbekov to reach the quarterfinals.
His run was halted by another Kyrgyz opponent, Baiel Ismailov, who prevailed in the last-eight contest and sent the Iranian into the repechage.
Nejadkachiani kept his medal hopes alive by defeating Jordan’s Wissam Eiealslman in his opening repechage bout. However, he fell to Saudi Arabia’s Mutaz Hebah in his next contest, ending his campaign just short of the bronze-medal bout.