Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Para Games:
Athletics glory headlines Iran’s medal-laden start
Iranian athletes enjoyed a prolific run on the first two days of action at the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Para Games in Japan, tasting glory across athletics, swimming, taekwondo, shooting, cycling, judo, and table tennis.
The medal-laden campaign has seen the Iranian delegation engaged in a tight race for the runner-up spot in the overall standings alongside the host country, South Korea and Uzbekistan, while China has already pulled clear of the chasing pack at the top of the table.
Para athletics
The para-athletics contests accounted for the biggest share of success for the Iranians, producing 10 medals, including five golds.
Erfan Bondori claimed the top prize in the men’s javelin throw F53 event on Tuesday, setting a new Games record of 30.24m in the process.
Amirhossein Alipour and Mahdi Olad secured an all-Iranian one-two in the men’s shot put F11, with the former posting 14.99m with his final attempt to shatter his own Asian record on his way to the gold medal.
There were further shot put golds for the Iranians in the men’s events, as Saman Pakbaz triumphed in the F12 class with a best throw of 13.52m, while Mohammad Saber won the F33 final with a new Games record of 10.95m.
Elham Salehi had opened Iran’s gold account in para athletics on Monday, registering 16.44m for the top spot in the women’s javelin throw F54, with her compatriot Masoumeh Tourani settling for silver with 14.99m.
Ali Olfatinia (men’s long jump T37/T38) contributed a silver to Iran’s medal haul, while Parastoo Habibi and Farzaneh Sohrabi took silver and bronze, respectively, in the women’s club throw F32/F51 event.
Shooting one-two
Elsewhere at the multi-sport event on Tuesday, Faezeh Ahmadi and shooting sensation Sareh Javanmardi were involved in a closely contested final in the women’s 10m air pistol SH1 event, with Ahmadi – a gold medalist at September’s World Championships – ultimately grabbing gold with a score of 237.3.
Four-time Paralympic champion Javanmardi, meanwhile, posted 237.0 for silver – the fourth Asian Para Games medal of her illustrious career.
In para taekwondo, Ailar Jami claimed the gold medal in the women’s K44 -47kg category on Monday, thanks to an impressive 2-0 victory (6-0, 6-2) over two-time Paralympic bronze medalist Khwansuda Phuangkitcha of Thailand, who failed to defend her title.
Mohammad-Taha Hassanpour, meanwhile, finished with a consolation bronze in the men’s K44 -58kg division. Having suffered a last-four setback against Chinese Taipei’s Xiao Xiang-wen, the Iranian fought back to defeat South Korea’s Lee Pyeonggang 2-1 (4-10, 14-10, 18-8) in the third-place bout.
In para swimming, Sina Zeighaminejad clocked 56.68 seconds in the final to win gold in the men’s 100m freestyle S10 event, with fellow Iranian Shahin Izadyar sharing silver with Kazakhstan’s Dias Kenzhebek after both swimmers finished in 59.10 seconds.
There were more medals for Iran in men’s para cycling, as Behrouz Farzad settled for silver in the C4 4000m individual pursuit and Mohammad Dalir won bronze in the B 1000m time trial.
Iranian judokas Mahdi Borchlou (men’s J1 -81kg) and Mousa Gholami (men’s J1 -95kg), meanwhile, added two bronze medals to Iran’s tally.
Hassan Janfeshan, 60, was Iran’s medalist in para table tennis, collecting bronze in the men’s singles class 2 after falling to a 3-2 defeat against South Korea’s Kim Kyung-hyun in the semifinals.
In team sports, Iran’s men’s sitting volleyball team opened its bid for a fifth gold medal in as many editions with a straight-set victory (25-15, 25-17, 25-13) over Thailand in Pool B.
In blind football, Iran’s men’s team hammered India 5-0 for its third successive victory in the single round-robin group.
Sadeh Rahimqasr opened the scoring for Iran in the 10th minute, and the team went into halftime with a 1-0 lead. Mohammadamin Rahimzadeh doubled the advantage in the 27th minute before Morteza Karimi stole the show in the closing stages with a remarkable hat-trick in the space of three minutes at the Terraspo Tsuruma venue.
The top two teams in the six-team group will meet again in the final, while the next two will face off for the bronze medal.
Iran also celebrated a second consecutive win in its third outing in the men’s goalball, defeating Thailand 12-9 in the preliminary round.