Iranian athletes kept their winning streak alive with more medals at the 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games (AIMAG) which is underway in Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan.
Sohrab Moradi, one of the participating Iranian weightlifters, set a new world record in the 94-kilogram group. Competing in the fifth edition of the Asian sport extravaganza, Moradi managed to lift a total of 413 kilograms breaking the record of Georgian-Greek athlete Kakhi Kakhiashvili who held the previous record of 412 kg for 18 years, Mehr News Agency reported.
Moradi lifted 176 kilograms above his head in his first snatch attempt though he was fighting a neck-on-neck competition with Farkhodbek Sobirov of Uzbekistan. He later overcame 181 and 185 kilograms in the snatch category.
Moradi, who settled for gold in the same weight division in the 2016 Rio Olympics, recorded a score of 228 kg in the clean and jerk contest.
Women Alysh Fighters
Iranian female Alysh wrestler Zahra Yazdani Snatched gold medal in the 55-kg category, IRNA reported.
After having a rest in the first round, Yazdani defeated the Filipino wrestler in the second match and advanced to the semi-final stage where she overpowered the Turkmen athlete to qualify for the final round. There, she beat the Uzbek fighter and snatched the first gold medal for Iran’s traditional wrestling in the Ashgabat games.
Alysh is an upright wrestling style. Competitors wear trousers, jackets and belts, and must hold on to their opponents’ belts at all times. Their objective is to hurl their opponents on the mat.
Another wrestler in Alysh section, Sahar Ghanizadeh defeated her Kyrgyz rival and received bronze medal in the 65-kg category.
In her first match, Ghanizadeh overpowered an Uzbek wrestler but in the second game was defeated by another rival from the same country and during her third match she lost to a Turkmen fighter.
First Ever Equestrian Medal
Iran received its first medal in equestrian section of the tournament. During the final match, Davoud Pour-Rezaei and Amir-Hossein Habibi took bronze. It was the first medal in the history of the Iranian equestrian team.
The 5th edition of AIMAG opened in the Turkmen capital on September 17, and will end September 27. Athletes from 49 countries in Asia and Pacific are attending.
Iran’s squad, including 214 athletes (115 male and 66 female) is participating in 20 fields: futsal, table tennis, kickboxing, Muay Thai, Sambo, Kurash, Jujutsu, bowling, billiards, cycling, track-and-field, swimming, weightlifting, freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling, Pahlavani wrestling, Alysh, basketball, taekwondo, horse-riding and chess.
Turkmenistan is on the top of the medal count table with 193 medals (77 gold, 54 silvers and 62 bronzes). Iran is second with 77 medals (19 gold, 15 silvers, 43 bronzes) and Uzbekistan third with 89 medals (16 gold, 26 silvers and 47 bronzes).
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