Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Games:
Barimanlou claims kurash gold, Beheshti bags bronze in weightlifting
Majid Barimanlou added a ninth gold medal to Iran’s haul at the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Games in Japan, while teenage prodigy Mahsa Beheshti won an impressive bronze in women’s weightlifting.
A world silver medalist in 2023, Barimanlou claimed the top prize in the men’s -66kg class of the kurash event thanks to a 1-0 victory over Yosin Bobokalonov of Tajikistan in the final, collecting a second Asian Games medal of his career following a silver at Hangzhou 2022.
The Iranian began his campaign with a yonbosh victory over Kyrgyzstan’s Islam Kamchybekov and then defeated Afghanistan’s Rahimullah Najmi by khalol to reach the semifinals, where he beat another Kyrgyz opponent, Kubanychbek Aibek Uulu, 3-0 to advance to the final.
Earlier in the day, Fatemeh Barmaki settled for bronze in the women’s +87kg division after suffering a 5-0 setback against Liu Li-Ling Shih of Chinese Taipei in the semifinals.
Beheshti wins bronze
In weightlifting, Beheshti took to the platform in the women’s 86kg class, looking to build on her international breakthrough at the 2025 Islamic Solidarity Games, where she won a clean and jerk gold and two bronze medals, as well as her six-gold campaign at the Asian Youth and Junior Championships in August.
The 17-year-old Iranian failed with her opening 108kg attempt in the snatch but successfully lifted the same weight on her second attempt before completing a 113kg lift on her third to finish fourth in the standings.
She opened the clean and jerk with 141kg but failed to complete the lift.
On her second attempt, however, Beheshti successfully lifted 146kg to secure Iran’s second women’s bronze in weightlifting, following Reihaneh Karimi’s historic podium in the 77kg class on the previous day, before missing her third effort of 149kg.
In the men’s competition, Alireza Nasiri, winner of two silvers at last year’s World Championships, had a 110kg day to forget, finishing fourth after posting a 180kg-223kg-403kg mark.
Ali A’alipour had opened Iran’s weightlifting account in the men’s event on Monday by claiming gold in the 95kg class, shattering the world standard records in the clean and jerk and total – introduced by the International Weightlifting Federation – in the process.
The young Iranian successfully lifted 175kg on his first snatch attempt and followed it with 180kg on his second. He failed to complete his third attempt at 183kg.
In the clean and jerk, A’alipour opened with a successful 213kg lift but failed with 218kg on his second attempt before overcoming the weight with his final effort of the afternoon, also setting a new Asian Games benchmark with a 398kg total.
Boxing bronze
Iran’s fourth medal of the day came in boxing, where Amir Esmaeili took the joint bronze in the men’s +90kg division.
Esmaeili defeated South Korea’s Ju Taeung and Chinese boxer Danabieke Bayikewuzi before his run came to an end against Uzbekistan’s Jakhongir Zokirov in the semifinals, after the referee stopped the contest in the second round over injury concerns for the Iranian.
Elsewhere at the multi-sport event, the Iranian beach volleyball pair of Abbas Pourasgari and Alireza Aqajani came from behind to beat the hosts’ Yusuke Ishijima and Juntaro Tachiya 2-1 (18-21, 21-7, 15-8) and advance to the men’s quarterfinals.
Standing between the Iranian duo and a place in the last four in today’s quarterfinal will be Qatar’s Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan, who won gold at the previous edition.
Abolhassan Khakizadeh and Amirali Qalenovi, however, failed to join their fellow Iranians in the last eight, losing 2-1 (21-15, 18-21, 15-11) to Kazakhstan’s Kirill Gurin and Sergey Bogatu.
Iran’s men’s water polo team, meanwhile, progressed to the semifinals after defeating Hong Kong 21-12.
Ali Abolqassemi led the scoring for Iran with five goals, with Alireza Mehri and Amin Qavidel contributing two apiece.
A bronze medalist in 2018, Iran will take on Japan or Singapore, who will go head-to-head today, in the semifinals.
Iran avoids volleyball upset
Iran had to produce a fightback to avoid a major upset in men’s volleyball, rallying from two sets down to defeat Indonesia 3-2 (22-25, 21-25, 25-21, 25-19, 17-15) in a five-set thriller on the final day of the group stage.
Star opposite Ali Hajipour led the comeback victory with 24 points, with Ali Haqparast adding 23.
Outside hitter Morteza Sharifi also reached double figures, chipping in 12, as Iran – chasing a fourth successive gold at the Asian Games – finished atop the Pool B standings with a clean sweep of three victories and advanced to the quarterfinals.