News / Sports

Iran’s Amidi claims silver in Fujairah taekwondo tournament

Saturday, 27 February 2016 8:35 AM [ Last Update: Saturday, 27 February 2016 8:34 AM ]

Iranian taekwondo practitioner Omid Amidi

Iranian taekwondo practitioner Omid Amidi has pocketed a silver medal in the 4th edition of the Fujairah Open 2016 in the United Arab Emirates.

On Thursday, the 23-year-old Iranian sportsman received a bye in the first round. He downed an opponent from Hong Kong 12-0 in his first competition of the men’s minus 87-kilogram weight class at Sheikh Khalifa Hall.

Amidi overpowered his Kazakh rival 11-3 in his second contest, and earned the ticket for the final showdown.

The young Iranian athlete then showed up for the contest against a Norwegian taekwondo practitioner, and finished as champion. The precious medal also added 12 points to Amidi’s Olympic rankings.

The 4th edition of the Fujairah Open 2016 started in the United Arab Emirates on February 23, and wrapped up on February 25, 2016.

The tournament brought together dozens of competitors from different countries of the world, including Cyprus, Egypt, Hong Kong, Iran, Kazakhstan, Norway, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan.

Armin Hadipour Seighalani, Seyed Ahmad Khosrowfar, Abolfazl Yaghoubi and Omid Amidi represented the Islamic Republic of Iran in the sporting event.

On February 24, 21-year-old Hadipour Seighalani snatched the gold medal in the men’s minus 58-kilogram weight division after defeating Irish opponent Jack Woolley 9-0 in the final encounter of the category.

Earlier that day, another Iranian taekwondo practitioner had collected a silver medal.

Gold medalists added 20 points to their qualification rankings for the 32nd edition of Olympic Games scheduled to be staged between August 5 and August 21, 2016 in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, with 789 athletes participating in the sporting event.

Silver and bronze medalists at Fujairah taekwondo tournament also added 12 and 7.2 points respectively to their 2016 Summer Olympics qualification rankings.

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