Iran men’s taekwondo finishes runner-up at Asian Championships

Tehran - BORNA - The 27th edition of the Asian Taekwondo Championships, featuring 350 practitioners, concluded its four-day run at the M-Bank Arena in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Iranian athletes across both men's and women's divisions secured a total of eight colorful medals during the event.

In the men's division, Iran stood on the second podium by clinching three gold, one silver, and one bronze medals. South Korea topped the men's team standings with three gold, one silver, and two bronze medals, while Jordan finished third with one gold and two bronze medals.

Iran's gold medals in the men's main draw were secured by Abolfazl Zandi (-58 kg), Mahdi Hajimousaei (-63 kg), and Arian Salimi (+87 kg). Yasin Valizadeh (-54 kg) earned a silver medal, and Amir-Reza Sadeghian (-80 kg) took home a bronze. Notably, Amir-Sina Bakhtiari also clinched a gold medal after being invited individually by the ATU; however, per union regulations, medals won by athletes outside the official team line-ups are excluded from the overall team medal standings.

In the women's division, Nahid Kiani (-57 kg) and Yalda Valinejad (-62 kg) secured gold and bronze medals respectively. With these results, the Iranian women’s squad, led by Mahrouz Saei, finished fourth overall, trailing behind Chinese Taipei, South Korea, and China, and missing out on the team podiums.

Additionally, the Asian Taekwondo Union is expected to soon release the official list of practitioners in both Poomsae and Kyorugi forms who have successfully secured qualification spots for the upcoming Nagoya Asian Games.

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