Salimi Wins 3rd Gold

Iran’s team in the Asian Games in Jakarta won another gold medal on Day 9 thanks to the +105kg weightlifter Behdad Salimi who, much to everyone's surprise, took off his shoes next to the barbell and kissed the board and weight to bid farewell to the sport after an outstanding career.  

Gold winner of the 2012 London Olympics lifted 200kg in his first snatch attempt, failed in 206kg in his second, but in the last attempt handled 208kg with three white lights from the judges.

Behdad, 28, then made three correct attempts in clean and jerk, lifting 237kg, 246kg and 253kg barbells to make the total of 461kg and win gold as his third Asian Games title after the 2010 Guangzhou and 2014 Incheon games.

"I'm so happy that after Mohammad Nassiri I am the second man from Iran to win three gold medals in the Asian Games," he told AFP. Nassiri, 73, had a glorious weightlifting career from 1966 to 1977. Besides Olympics and World Championships medals of all colors, he won the Asian Games titles in 1966, 1970 (in 56kg category) and 1974 (52kg).

Salimi’s trophy shelf is decorated with the crown jewel from the 2010 London Olympics, three gold medals in the Asian Championships, two gold medals in World Championships and three consecutive gold medals in Asian Games.

In the same category, Saeid Alihosseini of Iran won the silver medal after Salimi.

Alihosseini began with a red light lifting 201 kg but then handled it in the second bid. Like Behdad, he lifted 208 kg in his third attempt in snatch.

Starting clean and jerk with two successful attempts in lifting 240kg and 248kg barbells, Alihosseini failed to pull up the 254kg weight in his third attempt and settled for silver with 456kg in total. Uzbek Rustam Djangbaev took the bronze medal after the Iranians with 455kg total record.

Alihosseini took silver ahead of Salimi in the 2017 World Championships, his first competition after returning from an eight-year doping ban.

Two gold, one silver and one bronze as well as a world record by Sohrab Moradi in men’s 94kg class are among the achievements of Iran’s weightlifting team at the ongoing games.

 Honors in Karate

Before the gold and the silver medals in weightlifting, Iran’s karate team started Monday with one gold and one bronze.

Bahman Asgari in men's -75kg grabbed gold after beating Saudi Raef Adel Alturkistani 5-0 in the final showdown.

Asgari began with an 8-0 victory against Afghan Abdul Baset Wahedi and won again opposite Mongolia’s Khangaikhuu Uvgunkhuu with the same result. Without ceding any points to the rivals, Asgari won the quarterfinal match 2-0 against Teerawat Pongsai from Thailand.

Bahman’s semifinal clash with Taiwanese Wei-Chun Hsu ended in a 0-0 draw but the jury named the Iranian as the winner and he got the final shot where he beat the Saudi 5-0 to win the title.

Iran also took two karate bronze medals on Monday. Zabiollah Poursheib in men’s -84kg and Pegah Zangeneh in women’s -68kg both won bronzes.

Iran is in fifth place with 16 gold, 15 silver and 15 bronze medals after China, Japan, South Korea and Indonesia.

Thanks to the eight gold and one bronze medal in newly added field Pencak Silat - Indonesia national game – to the Asian games, the host country added to its gold tally on Monday and bettered its ranking going up to the fourth place and sending Iran to the fifth position.