Shooter Elaheh Ahmadi replaced Kimia Alizadeh as flag bearer in the Asian Games 2018 on Monday after the latter, from Iran women’s taekwondo team, was forced to step down due to knee injury.
According to ISNA, the National Olympic Committee has honored Ahmadi to lead Iran at the opening ceremony of the continental games.
Regarding Alizadeh’s condition, the committee held an emergency meeting to choose an athlete to replace the taekwondoka and agreed to name Ahmadi.
Ahmadi won the first ever gold medal for Iran in the history of women’s shooting sports. She is the most decorated Iranian woman shooter and the first to take the top spot in the world ranking in shooting. She recently won gold at the 2018 ISSF World Cup in Munich in the 50-meter rifle category.
Discus thrower Ehsan Haddadi was another candidate in the list of the bearers. Haddadi made history by becoming the first Iranian to win an athletics world title of any kind when he collected world junior gold with 62m in Grosseto, Italy, in 2004.
Heavy-weight lifter Behdad Salimi waved the tricolor flag at the previous edition of the quadrennial games in Incheon, South Korea.
