World Taekwondo Junior Championships:
Iran collects seven medals, finishes men’s runner-up
Iranian men’s and women’s teams concluded their campaign at the World Taekwondo Junior Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, with seven medals, including four golds.
A haul of three golds saw the country claim the runner-up spot in the men’s event with 397 points – seven behind host Uzbekistan, which bagged two golds and two silvers, plus one bronze, to become only the third nation, following South Korea and Iran, to lift the men’s trophy across 15 editions of the global showpiece.
Russia stood third – courtesy of two golds and a silver – with South Korea and Thailand in the following spots.
In the women’s competition, Iran – champion in the previous edition – had to settle for a fourth-place finish behind China, Croatia, and South Korea.
Three Iranians were in action on the final day of the event at the Martial Arts Sports Complex in Tashkent’s Olympic City, finishing empty-handed after last-eight setbacks in their respective categories.
Ali Razmian was knocked out by Kazakhstan’s Adilet Sheri in the men’s -51kg category, while Rozhan Heidari (-52kg) and Aynaz Mikaeili (-63kg) fell to Spain’s Itziar Garcia Godoy and Uzbekistan’s Mo Uktamjonova, respectively, in the women’s contests on Friday.
Parsa Houshyar secured Iran’s third men’s gold when he defeated France’s Nolhan Rosemond in the -63kg final on the penultimate day of the tournament.
Rosemond led the first round but conceded five Gam-jeoms (penalty points), handing the round to his opponent. Houshyar appeared on course to win the second round, only for Rosemond to deliver a stunning late body kick and take it 4-3. But Houshyar was not to be denied, claiming the decisive third round 9-6 to seal gold.
Benyamin Soltanian dominated the men’s -73kg event without dropping a single round, capping off with a final victory over South Korea’s Seung Min Ahn.
Mohammad-Erfan Khodaei also enjoyed an emphatic campaign in the men’s division, defeating Poland’s Antoni Sokolowski in the -55kg final – the Iranian’s sixth straight-round win of the competition.
Hana Zarrinkamar, meanwhile, headlined the Iranian women’s medal hunt in Tashkent by grabbing gold in the +68kg class, thanks to a final victory over Czechia’s Alice Bínová, which saw the Iranian girl secure back-to-back titles at the World Junior Championships.
Pinar Lotfizadeh (-59kg), Bahar Tahmasbi (-42kg), and Helia Ebrahimian (-49kg) added three women’s bronzes to Iran’s medal count.
Despite failing to repeat the historic double team title-winning success of 2024, the Iranian boys and girls will have every reason to be pleased by the final outcome in Tashkent after they were forced to go through exhausting circumstances amid the country’s military conflict with the United States and Israel.
The Iranian delegation had to travel by road for 27 hours to cross the Turkmenistan border, followed by connecting flights to the Uzbek capital in order to attend the championships.
The six-day contests featured 986 competitors from 115 countries.