Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Para Games:
Iranians triumph in judo, athletics, taekwondo
The Iranian delegation continued its medal-winning run on Day 3 of the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Para Games in Japan on Wednesday, securing gold medals in judo, para athletics and para taekwondo.
Ali Navaei headlined Iran’s medal haul in judo, claiming gold in the men’s J1 +95kg category with a victory over Uzbekistan’s Islomjon Tukhtaboev in the final.
Navaei’s triumph capped a five-medal haul for Iran’s men’s judo team.
Mohammadreza Kheirollahzadeh settled for silver in the J2 +95kg category after losing to Kazakhstan’s Zhurkamyrza Shukurbekov in the final. Mousa Gholami (J1 -95kg), Amirhossein Nimrouzi (J2 +95kg) and Mahdi Borchlou (J1 -81kg) each claimed bronze in their respective events.
Elsewhere, Alireza Zare’ secured Iran’s seventh gold medal in para athletics, winning the men’s 100m T35 in 12.32 seconds to set a new Games record.
Reigning Paralympic champion Yasin Khosravi had struck gold in the men’s shot put F57 on Tuesday at Paloma Mizuho Stadium.
The three-time world champion registered a Games-record throw of 15.25 meters with his penultimate attempt to repeat his success at the previous edition in Hangzhou in 2022.
In the men’s F53 shot put, Alireza Mokhtari claimed silver on Wednesday with a best effort of 8.09 meters, taking his medal tally in Nagoya to two. The 48-year-old had won bronze in the discus throw on Tuesday.
Iran added two more bronze medals in women’s discus throw on Wednesday. Faezeh Dibaei finished third in the F56/F57 final with a personal-best throw of 24.51 meters, while Kowsar Qaraei secured bronze in the F11 event with a mark of 37.15 meters.
In para powerlifting, two-time Paralympic champion Rouhollah Rostami settled for silver in the men’s -88kg category after losing a closely contested battle against China’s Yan Panpan, a two-time Paralympic gold medalist. The pair were separated by just one kilogram.
Iran’s flag bearer at the opening ceremony began his campaign with a successful 232kg lift before clearing 237kg and 239kg in his second and third attempts, respectively.
Yan, meanwhile, successfully lifted 233kg, 238kg and 240kg in his three attempts to secure gold.
Mohsen Bakhtiar had opened Iran’s medal account in para powerlifting on Tuesday, winning bronze in the men’s -72kg category.
Taekwondo glory
Hamed Haqshenas and Alireza Bakht added two gold medals to Iran’s tally in men’s para taekwondo on Wednesday.
Bakht defeated South Korea’s Joo Jeonghun 2-0 (6-2, 12-6) to win the men’s K44 -80kg title, while Haqshenas overcame Uzbekistan’s Umarjon Muydinov in straight rounds in the +80kg final.
Marzieh Nasrollahi also reached the podium in the women’s competition, coming from behind to beat China’s Xu Feng 2-1 (2-4, 16-0, 3-2) and claim bronze in the K44 +65kg category.