Iran men’s kumite team finishes second in Asia karate event

Iranian men’s national kumite team has ended its campaign at the 2015 Asian Karate Championships in Japan, finishing second in the tournament.

On Sunday, the host nation’s karate practitioners went on tatami in Yokohama, located about 30 kilometers (18 miles) south of the capital, Tokyo, and landed in the first position of the chart following a 3-0 victory over the Iranians in the final team kumite contests, and snatched the gold medal.

Iran’s 25-year-old karateka Hamideh Abbasali overwhelmed her competitor in the final bout of the women’s over 68-kilogram kumite division on Saturday and claimed the gold medal.

Earlier in the day, Sajjad Ganjzadeh conceded a 2-4 defeat to his Japanese rival in the final encounter of the men’s over 84-kilogram kumite class and was awarded the silver medal.

The Iranian team, comprising Reza Khodashenas, Seyyed Jamshid Hosseini and Behnam Ghasemi, also claimed the third spot and received a bronze medal in the men’s kata class.

The Iranian women’s outfit, which included Parisa Rahmani, Mehri Yazdani and Maedeh Nasiri also claimed the bronze medal in the kata category.

Zabihollah Poursheib and Elaheh Rezadadeh also won bronze medals in respectively the men’s minus 84-kilogram and women’s minus 68-kilogram kumite third-place contests.

On Friday, Amir Mahdizadeh picked up the first gold medal for Iran in the men’s minus 60-kilogram kumite section after defeating his Taiwanese competitor 9-0.

Saeed Ahmadi pocketed a silver medal in the men’s minus 67-kilogram kumite competitions, Sahar Karaji bagged another silver medal in the women’s minus 50-kilogram contests, and Mehran Ghorbanalipour clinched the bronze in the men’s individual kata division.

The 13th edition of the Asian Karate Championships started in the Japanese city of Yokohama on September 3 and finished on September 6.

The international sport event brought together 285 male and female karate fighters from 33 countries, including Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, South Korea, Sri Lanka and Taiwan.

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