Iranian athletes collect 18 medals in Asia Pacific Deaf Games

Iranian male and female audibly-challenged athletes have put spectacular performances on display at the eighth edition of the Asia Pacific Deaf Games in Taiwan, pocketing 18 medals, including five gold ones.

Iran’s taekwondo fighter Behzad Amiri defeated his Kazakh competitor in the final bout of the men’s minus 68-kilogram weight class and snatched the gold medal on Sunday.

Marziyeh Khosh Ahval claimed Iran’s second taekwondo gold medal in the final encounter of women’s minus 57-kilogram weight category after she overpowered a representative from Kazakhstan.

Maysam Abedi conceded defeat in the men’s minus 80-kilogram weight category, and clinched the silver medal.

Mohammad Kazemzadeh and Maryam Khodabandeh also pocketed two taekwondo bronze medals in the men’s minus 58-kilogram and women’s minus 49-kilogram weight divisions.

Meanwhile, Iranian male sprinter Hossein Sedaqat clocked 15 minutes and 44.83 seconds in the tournament’s 5,000-meter race to land in the first position and receive the gold medal.

Iranian male shot putter Erfan Saffari also picked a gold medal for the Islamic Republic with a winning throw of 15.41 meters. Mohammad Hadi Salehi added another gold to Iran’s medal tally when he produced a mark of 1.99 meters in the men’s high jump.

Iran’s sprinter Mehran Sarfaraz claimed the men’s 5,000-meter silver with a running time of 17 minutes and 31.75 seconds.

Iranian female shot putter Mona Shiri also exhibited awe-inspiring displays at the sporting event, and threw 9.44 meters to claim the silver medal.

Iranian female sprinter Maryam Abdifard, male triple jumper Habibullah Kia and the Iranian men’s 4×100 meters relay outfit, comprised of Sajjad Mahpour, Alireza Salehi, Moslem Shirzad and Hashem Yadegari, also bagged three more silver medals.

Additionally, Iranian sprinter Sajjad Mahpour, shot putter Sajjad Piraygherchaman , high jumper Alireza Salehi, triple jumper Mohammad Hadi Salehi and sprinter Hossein Sedaqat were awarded  five bronze medals.

The eighth edition of the Asia Pacific Deaf Games opened in Taoyuan, Taiwan, on October 3 and will finish on October 11, 2015.

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