Nahid Kiani crowns Asian Taekwondo Champion

Tehran - BORNA - On the final day of the Asian Taekwondo Championships held in Mongolia, Kiani—a world gold medalist and Olympic silver medalist—defeated Uzbekistan’s Madinabonu Mirabzalova in the final match in two consecutive rounds (11-7, 5-5) to stand on the top podium.

Prior to the final, Kiani launched her campaign with a convincing two-round victory (3-0, 8-0) over India's Aranya. In her second bout, she outscaled Jordan's Fadia Kharfan 2-1 to book a place in the semifinals, where she shut out Chinese Taipei's Lin Wei-chun 2-0, securing her position as the sole finalist for the Iranian women's squad.

On the same day, Yalda Valinejad and Amir-Reza Sadeghian bagged two bronze medals for Iran, while Amir-Abbas Rahnama and Mohammad-Hassan Palangafkan were eliminated from the tournament.

Earlier in the competitions, Iran’s male fighters put on a stellar performance as Abolfazl Zandi (-58 kg), Mahdi Hajimousaei (-63 kg), Amir-Sina Bakhtiari (-74 kg), and Arian Salimi (+87 kg) all snatched gold medals, while Yasin Valizadeh (-54 kg) settled for silver.

Over the course of the tournament, several Iranian athletes were knocked out after losing to their opponents. In the men's division, Mahdi Razmian (-54 kg), Radin Zeinali (-74 kg), and Ali Ahmadi (-87 kg) exited the draws. In the women's category, Masoumeh Ranjbar (-46 kg), Mahla Momenzadeh (-49 kg), Mobina Nematzadeh (-53 kg), Saghar Moradi and Fereshteh Fathi (-62 kg), Baran Nemati (-73 kg), and Fatemeh Ahmadi (+73 kg) missed out on the podiums.

The Iranian women's national team is led by head coach Mahrouz Saei, while Ali Tajik serves as the head coach of the men's national team.

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