Iran unveils weightlifting roster for Asian Games
Iran will be represented by six weightlifters, including two women, at the upcoming Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Games.
The weightlifting competition at the multi-sport event will open on September 23 at the Nagoya City Trade and Industry Centre.
The men’s lineup was confirmed following the opening day of the Iranian Premier League on Thursday in Tehran, where several unofficial world records were set.
Former world and Olympic silver medalist Ali Davoudi will look to improve on his silver medal at Hangzhou 2022 when he gets his campaign underway in the men’s +110kg division.
A five-time world medalist, including a double gold medalist in 2023, Mirmostafa Javadi, who was sidelined for a lengthy spell with a back problem after missing out on the podium at the 2024 World Championships, will compete in the men’s 85kg class, while Ali Aalipour will be among the medal hopefuls in the 95kg division.
Aalipour, who won a snatch silver medal at last year’s World Championships, looked to be in top form on Thursday, dominating his event with an impressive 187kg-223kg-410kg performance.
The young Iranian lifted six kilograms above the new snatch world standard announced by the International Weightlifting Federation in August, while his clean & jerk effort bettered the mark by three kilograms.
A world junior record holder in the clean & jerk and total, Alireza Nasiri will fancy his chances in the 110kg contest after bagging double world silvers last year, though he will still need to post the required marks set by the coaching staff in the final trial before the Games.
Meanwhile, Iran will hope for a historic campaign from Mahsa Beheshti and Reihaneh Karimi in the women’s competition.
Teenage sensation Beheshti, 17, who will compete in the 86kg category, stole the headlines when she won clean & jerk gold on her international senior debut at last year’s Islamic Solidarity Games in Riyadh before spearheading the country’s women’s medal hunt at the Asian Youth & Junior Championships in Tashkent by winning a clean sweep of six gold medals.
Iran’s 69kg representative Karimi also enjoyed a decent campaign in the Uzbek capital, winning bronze medals in the clean & jerk and total.
Weightlifting has been Iran’s second-most prolific sport – behind wrestling – since the country first took part in the Asian Games in New Delhi in 1951, yielding 33 golds, 31 silvers and 20 bronzes across 17 editions.
However, Iran endured a dire run at the previous edition in Hangzhou, managing just a single silver medal, won by Davoudi in the men’s superheavyweight division.