Iran’s team in the ongoing Asian Games in Jakarta keeps adding to its medals to stick to the fifth position on the medals table albeit at a slower rate compared to the opening days of the competition.
Up until Friday, Iran’s gold medal count reached 19. Ehsan Haddadi in athletics and Elyas Ali-Akbar in kurash won the latest gold.
Haddadi took the fourth Asian Games title in discus throw on Thursday and was honored as the most decorated athlete in Iranian discuss history though he could not shake his own record of 67.99 meters he set in the 2010 Guangzhou Games.
Beginning with 63.67 meters in the first throw, Haddadi reached 65.71m in his last to create a 5.62m gap with the silver medalist, Mustafa Kadhim Dagher Al Saamah from Iraq. Third place was taken by Kuwaiti thrower Eissa Zankawi.
Kurash practitioner Elyas Ali-Akbari in the men’s -81kg won gold and Omid Taztak in the same category doubled the medals for Iran by winning bronze and Tajik Khojazoda Behruzi taking silver.
Except in the -81kg, Uzbek athletes won gold in other weight categories for men and women teams.
In the men’s +90kg Jafar Pahlavani added another silver to the kurash team medals and Ghanbar-Ali Ghanbari in -66kg took bronze.
On the last day of the games, Saturday, Iran plays the final volleyball match against old Asian rival South Korea. The national basketball squad will also battle for gold against China on the same day.
Up until Friday Iran was fifth on the medals table with 19 gold, 19 silver and 20 bronze medals.
Atop the table, China has continued its bull run winning 117 gold medals plus 83 silver and 60 bronze. Not reaching the first spot, Japan has cemented the second spot with 67 gold, 50 silver and 70 bronze. South Korea is third with 43 gold, 54 silver and 63 bronze medals.
The host nation Indonesia is fourth by raising its gold tally to 30 thanks to the debut of their national martial arts game pencak silat in which it won 14 gold medals.
