Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Games:
Rowing heroics spearhead Iran’s medal hunt
Iranian female rowers stole the show at the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Games on Thursday, collecting five medals, including two golds, across different events.
Fatemeh Mojallal headlined the medal hunt by winning a historic gold and a bronze, while Zeinab Norouzi and Kimia Zarei teamed up for a gold and silver in the double sculls events.
Mojallal first clocked 7:24.57 to win the top prize in the lightweight single sculls event, securing Iran’s maiden rowing gold in the history of the multi-sport event, and then settled for a third-place finish in the single sculls final with a time of 7:35.99.
“Thank God. I would like to thank everyone who helped me along this journey. I am very happy that I was able to raise my country’s flag and make the Iranian people happy. I won the most precious color of medal, and I am very happy about it,” said the 24-year-old rower, who dedicated her gold medal to her fellow Iranian girls.
“We had never won a rowing gold at the Asian Games, and I am the first,” she said. “I worked very hard to break this spell, training hard in camps for two years in difficult conditions.”
There were further milestone achievements as Norouzi became the most decorated Iranian female athlete in the history of the Asian Games with one gold and three silvers to her name.
Norouzi and Zarei crossed the finish line in the lightweight double sculls with the fastest time of 6:53.93 – 5.31 seconds clear of Hong Kong’s silver-winning pair – and then stood runner-up to the Chinese duo in the double sculls final in 6:55.78.
Meanwhile, the Iranian quartet of Mahsa Javer, Hengameh Kamyab, Soha Fakhri and Saqi Maleki added another silver medal in the women’s quadruple sculls event, courtesy of a 6:27.24 performance in the final, as Javer secured a fifth Asian Games medal of her career – a national high for any Iranian female athlete.
Iran was also not short of success in the men’s competition, as Amirhossein Mohammadpour claimed silver in the lightweight single sculls.
3x3 basketball consolation
The Iranian men’s team won a bronze medal in 3x3 basketball, thanks to a 21-10 victory over the Philippines in the third-place contest on Friday.
Mohammadbassir Momeni contributed 12 points, with Mohammad Rahimi finishing with five points and seven rebounds, as Iran, having hammered the host 21-3 in the quarterfinals, bounced back from a 14-11 setback against Qatar in the semifinals earlier in the day to finish with a consolation medal.
Wushu quartet
Elsewhere, Iranians capped off an impressive wushu campaign on Thursday by collecting a gold and three sanda medals.
Soheil Mousavi defeated Kazakhstan’s Abdurashid Abdullayev in the final to finish with the gold in the men’s 75kg class, while three of his compatriots fell short against Chinese fighters in their respective finals.
Sogand Sinkaei suffered a 2-0 loss to Wu Di in the women’s 52kg showdown, while Shoja Panahi (65kg) and Erfan Moharrami (70kg) were undone by Wang Chengjin and Ma Shue, respectively, by the same scoreline in the men’s finals.
Artistic gymnastics
Iranians also enjoyed a decent run in artistic gymnastics by grabbing two silver medals in the men’s event.
Arman Khodaei opened Iran’s account on Thursday by finishing second to Uzbekistan’s Utkirbek Juraev in the pommel horse final, becoming only the second Iranian in the sport to win an Asian Games medal, following Mahdi Olfati’s vault silver at Hangzhou 2022.
Khodaei’s 14.566 performance saw the 20-year-old sensation, making his international debut, finish above three-time Olympic gold medalist and five-time world champion Daiki Hashimoto of Japan, who settled for bronze.
Olfati, meanwhile, replicated his historic success from the previous edition, delivering a 14.533 performance to finish behind the Philippines’ Carlos Yulo – a gold medalist at the Paris 2024 Olympics – in the men’s vault final on Friday.
Athletics heartbreak
Iran was dealt a massive blow in its bid for a maiden women’s medal in athletics after Fatemeh Mohitizadeh was disqualified from the heptathlon.
A gold medalist at last year’s Islamic Solidarity Games, Mohitizadeh emerged as the favorite for the top prize after finishing atop the overall standings on Thursday by a safe margin ahead of Friday’s three remaining disciplines.
However, her campaign came to an abrupt end after she was reportedly found to have worn sprint footwear for the long jump contest, which is against World Athletics regulations.
Iran still found some consolation in the athletics contests after Sadeq Samimi managed to win bronze in the men’s discus throw.
Samimi registered a personal-best throw of 60.32m with his third attempt, while Abuduaini Tuergong (64.26m) and Wu Nanjun (61.58m) completed an all-Chinese one-two as Iran missed out on the discus gold for the first time since Busan 2002.