Asian Youth & Junior Weightlifting Championships:
Beheshti, Beiranvand dominate as Iran enjoys glorious campaign
Mahsa Beheshti and Mohammad-Javad Beiranvand collected a remarkable 15 golds between them as Iranian boys and girls enjoyed a medal-laden campaign at the Asian Youth & Junior Weightlifting Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, setting several new world records in the process.
A haul of 12 medals, including six golds, saw the Iranian girls claim the runner-up spot in the youth event – the country’s best-ever finish in the history of the competition – with 534 points. Kazakhstan secured the team title in the age category with 551 points, while hosts Uzbekistan finished third with 514 points.
Teenage prodigy Mahsa Beheshti spearheaded Iran’s medal hunt in the girls’ youth contests by completing a clean sweep of three golds in the +77kg weight class on Thursday.
Beheshti, who made her senior breakthrough with clean & jerk gold and two bronze medals at last year’s Islamic Solidarity Games in Riyadh, registered three successful lifts to win the snatch gold with a best effort of 113kg.
She picked up where she left off in the snatch by lifting 136kg in the clean & jerk before going on to post 142kg and 148kg – 14 kilograms better than her mark in the Saudi capital – to win her second gold of the afternoon. She then claimed the total title with a combined 261kg.
Her splendid performance saw Beheshti also sweep the gold medals of the junior 86kg class on Friday. Hosna Amiri and Roya Nourinejad secured an all-Iranian podium in the snatch contest, registering best lifts of 104kg and 98kg, respectively. Amiri won the total bronze with 224kg.
Anahita Zarei and Nasim Qassemi bagged six medals, including three golds, between them in the girls’ youth 77kg division.
Zarei settled for bronze in the snatch but went on to win gold in the clean & jerk and total with lifts of 126kg and 218kg, respectively.
Qassemi, meanwhile, grabbed snatch gold with a successful 91kg effort before finishing runner-up to her compatriot in the next two categories with a 117kg clean & jerk and a 208kg total.
Beiranvand dominates
In the boys’ competitions, Mohammad-Javad Beiranvand was in a league of his own in the 75kg weight class, collecting a remarkable nine gold medals across the three categories and age groups.
The Iranian opened his snatch campaign by successfully lifting 140kg. After failing to clear 145kg in his second attempt, he returned to the same weight in his third and successfully lifted it, setting a new world youth record.
The performance earned Beiranvand gold medals in the youth, junior and Central Asian categories in the snatch.
He was equally impressive in the clean & jerk. Beiranvand successfully lifted 166kg in his opening attempt, breaking the Asian youth record.
He then cleared 173kg in his second attempt to set new Asian and world records in the clean & jerk and total categories. In his final attempt, he successfully lifted 180kg, securing gold and once again breaking the world junior records in the clean & jerk and total.
Beiranvand capped his campaign with a total of 325kg to add three more gold medals to his individual haul in Tashkent, underlining his status as one of the country’s most promising young weightlifters.
Iran’s Taha Nojavan and Pouria Abbaspourian delivered further record-breaking lifts for the country, sweeping the gold and silver medals in the youth +95kg class.
Nojavan began his snatch campaign by successfully lifting 165kg and 170kg before clearing 176kg in his third attempt. The lift secured snatch gold and saw him set new Asian and world youth records.
The young Iranian went on to dominate the clean & jerk, successfully lifting 215kg to win gold.
With a total of 391kg, Taha also claimed gold in the overall standings.
His 215kg effort lifted him to new world youth records in both the clean & jerk and total categories.
Abbaspourian also posted a best lift of 175kg in the snatch and 206kg in the clean & jerk to add three silver medals to Iran’s medal count.
Hamidreza Zarei, meanwhile, delivered a standout performance in the 95kg junior category, winning three gold medals.
A winner of a silver and a bronze medal at last year’s World Junior Championships, Zarei cleared 164kg in his third attempt to secure snatch gold before winning the top prize in the clean & jerk with a new junior world record of 214kg in his final attempt.
Zarei completed his impressive performance with a total of 378kg.
Iranians were not short of glory in other weight and age categories.
Competing in the youth category, Hajar Moini lifted 90kg for snatch silver and 105kg to win bronze in the clean & jerk before finishing with a total of 195kg to claim bronze in the total in the 61kg class.
In the junior 61kg class, Maryam Keshtkar successfully lifted 94kg in the snatch and 111kg in the clean & jerk to finish with three bronze medals.
Mohammadamin Dadvand, meanwhile, rounded out his youth campaign with two gold medals and a snatch silver, courtesy of a 144kg-179kg-323kg performance.
Iran also settled for a runner-up finish in the boys’ youth standings with 530 points, winning nine golds, four silvers and two bronze medals.
Uzbekistan won the team title with 553 points, while Kazakhstan collected 506 points to finish third.