Karate Teams Show Finesse in Jakarta

On the seventh day of the Asian Games Iran’s karate teams won one gold and one bronze medal in the men and women categories.

Men karateka in the +84kg Sajjad Ganjzadeh beat Vietnam’s Minh Phung Nguyen 5-2 in the final match on Saturday to grab the Asian title in the ongoing games in Jakarta.

Palestinian Rezeqallah Tantish was the first to take the blows from Ganjzadeh in his first match. Ganjzadeh won 8-0. The Iranian next beat Saudi Tareg Ali Hamedi 4-1 in the quarterfinals and entered the breath-taking semifinal clash against Adilet Shadykanov. Yet again the Kyrgyz Shadykanov lost the match 2-1 and Ganjzadeh stepped into the gold race battle where he registered another golden victory.

Sajjad took the first medal for Iran’s men karate team while Hamideh Abbasali, the most decorated woman in the history of the women karate in the country, won bronze -- the first medal for the women’s team.

Abbasali kicked of the campaign with a 7-0 victory against Uzbek Aybib Akhmedova. In the semifinal heat she lost a close game to Ayumi Uekusa from the sport’s birthplace Japan but had the chance to fight for third place with Thi Hong Anh Nguyen of Vietnam. Hamideh did not miss her last chance and beat the rival 3-0 to take the third place.

With 14 gold, 11 silver and 9 bronze medals, Iran is in fourth place. China is at the top, Japan second and South Korea third.