Iranian athletes boost medal haul to 55 in Islamic Solidarity Games

Iranian sportsmen and women continue to exhibit impressive displays of athletics skills and thought at the ongoing 4th edition of Islamic Solidarity Games in Azerbaijan, and received 18 more medals to boost the Islamic Republic’s medal haul to 55 at the multinational and multi-sport event.

On Wednesday, Iran’s 29-year-old weightlifter Mohammadreza Barari participated in the 105-kilogram weight category of the competitions at the Weightlifting Arena in the Azerbaijani capital city of Baku.

He stood on the top podium for an aggregate of 395 kilograms, and was followed by Salwan al-Alaifuri from Iraq with his aggregated tied on 391 kilograms.

Uzbek weightlifter Ivan Efremov bagged the silver medal with an aggregate of 380 kilograms.

“Even though I was exhausted because of the 2017 Asian Weightlifting Championships (in Turkmenistan), patriotism took me here to Baku. I put in a great deal of effort and could strike the gold medal,” Barari said after the contest.

He added, “I knew my opponents and their abilities. The program developed by the technical team of (the Iranian weightlifting squad) helped me to recover only within two weeks.”

Moreover, Homayoun Teymouri and Ramin Rabieifaradonbed clinched the aggregate silver and bronze medal in the over 105-kilogram weight division with 414 and 399 kilograms respectively.

Uzbekistan’s Rustam Djangabaev received the aggregate gold for 431 kilograms.

Iranian light flyweight boxer Omid Ahmadisafa also won a bronze medal in the 49-kilogram weight category.

Additionally, the Iranian team, consisting of Haniyeh Rostamiyan and Vahid Golkhandan, won a bronze medal in the mixed team 10m air pistol competitions on Wednesday.

The Azerbaijani side grabbed the gold, while Omani shooters finished second.

The national Iranian men’s water polo team also put a praiseworthy end to its campaign and emerged as the vice champion of the Islamic Solidarity Games, winning the silver medal.

The achievements came on the same day that Iranian swimmer Mehdi Ansari participated in the men’s 50-meter butterfly competitions, and clinched the bronze medal.

Turkish rivals Berk Ozkul and Ilker Altinbilek received the gold and silver medals respectively.

Furthermore, Iranian taekwondo fighters demonstrated awe-inspiring displays, and received four medals, including two silver ones.

On Wednesday, Seyyed Hossein Ehasnipetroudi got the silver medal in the men’s minus 68-kilogram weight division after he failed to overcome his Azerbaijani opponent Aykhan Taghizade in the final encounter of the category.

Akram Khodabandeh also could not prevail over Turkish participator Nafia Kus in the final contest of the female over 73-kilogram weight section, and snatched the second silver medal for Iran.

Additionally, Iranian taekwondo fighters Soudabeh Poursadeghi Shalmaei and Alireza Darvishpour earned two bronze medals in the women’s minus 49-kilogram and men’s minus 80-kilogram weight classes.

Greco-Roman wrestlers Mohmmadali Geraei and Yousef Ghaderian also emerged triumphant in the final bouts of the men’s 71-kilogram and 80-kilogram weight divisions, and collected two silver medals for Iran.

Iran’s Paralympic discus thrower Ali Mohammadyari participated in the men’s discus throw F56 category competitions at the Baku Olympic Stadium, registering a throw of 43.08 meters to snatch the silver medal.

His compatriot Alireza Ghaleh Nasseri claimed the silver with a winning throw of 42.70 meters.

The bronze went to Azerbaijan’s Olokhan Musayev with a throw of 40.49 meters in his final attempt.

In the men's 400m division, Iranian athlete Ali Khadivar earned the bronze medal with his best effort of 45.92 seconds.

Bahraini contestant Ali Khamis Khamis won the gold medal with a winning time record of 45.54 seconds, and Winston George from Guyana claimed the silver with 45.69 seconds.

The 4th Islamic Solidarity Games started in Baku, Azerbaijan, on May 12 under the motto “Solidarity is Our Strength.” The tournament will wrap up on May 22, 2017.

Athletes from 54 Muslim countries around the world are representing their nations over 10 days of competition across 20 different sports, which include 23 disciplines (athletics and para-athletics, aquatics – diving, aquatics – swimming, aquatics – water polo, basketball 3×3, football, gymnastics – artistic, gymnastics – rhythmic, wushu, table tennis, handball, judo and blind judo, wrestling – Greco, wrestling – freestyle, shooting, tennis, volleyball, boxing, zurkhaneh, karate, taekwondo and weightlifting) in 16 world-class sporting venues.

Turkey is on the top of the medal count table with 140 medals (55 gold, 46 silvers and 39 bronzes).

Azerbaijan has claimed the second spot with 99 medals (50 gold, 29 silvers, 99 bronzes), while the Islamic Republic of Iran is on the third with a total of 55 medals (14 gold, 17 silvers and 24 bronzes).

Uzbekistan, Indonesia, Algeria, Egypt, Bahrain, Jordan and Saudi Arabia have earned the 4th to 10th places respectively.

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