Asian Cadet, Junior & U21 Karate Championship:
Iranians dominate Day 1 with 14 medals
Iranian karatekas stole the show on the opening day of the AKF Asian Cadet, Junior & U21 Championship in Amman, Jordan, collecting 14 medals – including six golds – across different age and gender groups on Tuesday.
In the girls’ cadet kumite contests, Nirvana Razzaqi won gold in the -47kg class after defeating Palestine’s Mahbooba Darsbaih in the final, with Baran Shadfar overcoming Hessah Al-Rasheed 3-1 to claim the top prize in -54kg.
Dina Karimi also finished on a high in the age group, beating Saudi opponent Alanoud Al-Asiri 3-0 in the -61kg showdown, while Saba Khodaparast settled for silver in +61kg after a 4-0 setback against Thailand’s Chonlada Nisangkat.
The Iranian-Saudi rivalry continued in the boys’ cadet kumite event, as Abolfazl Arab-Yaqoubi outmuscled Mohammed Harbi for the -63kg gold, while fellow Iranian Hamidreza Rezayati defeated Abdulrahman Al-Amri 3-0 in the -70kg final.
Amirali Mahmoudi, meanwhile, collected a second kumite silver for the country, losing 3-0 to the host’s Tariq Ahmad in the boys’ cadet +70kg final.
Iran’s sixth gold medal was secured in the girls’ cadet individual kata, where Dina Safari outscored Iraq’s Lanya Ahmed 5-0 in the final.
Iranians also bagged silver medals across different kata events.
Mohammad Ankouti fell to a 4-1 loss to Hung-yi Hsiao of Chinese Taipei in the boys’ cadet individual category, with the female trio of Vanousheh Rostamnejad, Nazanin Haqdoust and Melodi Azizi suffering a 3-2 setback against Chinese Taipei in the cadet and junior team event.
Yazdan Qavam was beaten 3-2 by Saudi opponent Yaqoub Bu Khawwah in the junior male final, while Armin Javani, Amirreza Mosalman and Erfan Beigi teamed up for a silver medal in the cadet and junior male division, falling 5-0 to Kuwait in the final.
Iranian boys Mohammad-Mahan Qassemian (cadet kumite -52kg) and Alireza Nadimi (U21 kata) added two bronzes to the country’s medal haul.
Following Iran in the team table at the end of Day 1 was Saudi Arabia, which collected two golds, four silvers and five bronzes, with Chinese Taipei in third, bagging two golds and two silvers, as well as five bronzes.
With 338 karatekas from 21 countries participating, the 24th edition of the showpiece will run until Friday.