Iranian athletes get dozen more medals in Islamic Solidarity Games

Iranian sportsmen and women continue to bring honor to their country at the ongoing 4th edition of Islamic Solidarity Games in Azerbaijan, and scoop 12 more medals to raise the Islamic Republic’s medal count to 67 at the multinational and multi-sport event.

On Thursday, Iranian male and female taekwondo practitioners staged remarkable performances at the Baku Sports Hall in the Azerbaijani capital city of Baku, and brought home four medals, including a gold.

Mahdi Yousefi snatched the gold medal in the men’s minus 63-kilogram weight division after he managed to down his Kazakh opponent Alimzhan Serikbayev 27-7 in the final encounter of the category.

Iranian taekwondo fighter Ahmad Mohammadi also collected the silver medal in the men’s minus 87-kilogram weight category, after he did not manage to overcome Ramin Azizov from Azerbaijan in the title contest and lost 14-16.

Iranian athlete Seyyed Ahmad Khosrowfar did not overwhelm Nikita Rafalovich, a representative from Uzbekistan, in the last contest of the men’s minus 74-kilogram division, and collected the silver medal.

Additionally, Melika Mirhosseini Vakili fetched a silver medal for the Islamic Republic of Iran in the women’s minus 73-kilogram. She lost 4-11 to Turkey’s Sude Bulut in the last fight.

In the women's javelin throw division, Iranian pitcher Sahar Ziaeisisakht earned the silver medal with her best effort of 49.15 meters.

Eda Tugsuz from Turkey won the gold medal with a winning throw of 67.21 meters, and Turkey’s Berivan Sakir claimed the bronze with 48.74 meters.

Iranian pitcher Sajad Nikparast earned the silver medal with 59.24 meters in the men’s javelin throw F13 division.

Aleksandr Svechnikov, a representative from Uzbekistan, won the gold medal with a throw of 70.00 meters, and Iran’s Seyyed Erfan Hosseini Liravi struck the bronze with 55.79 meters.

Moreover, Arash Khosravi vied in the men's 100m T11 competitions, and picked a bronze medal for Iran, having clocked 11.66 seconds.

Azerbaijani athlete Nurlan Ibrahimov set the time of 11.60 seconds to snatch the gold, and Elchin Muradov, also from Azerbaijan, received the silver medal with 11.64 seconds.

Furthermore, Mojtaba Valipour was awarded the gold medal in the men's 3m springboard contests. Indonesian contestant Aldiansyah Rafi and Dmitriy Sorokin from Azerbaijan got the silver and bronze medals respectively.

Iranian Greco-Roman wrestlers Mehdi Zeidvand, Mahdi Fallah Hamidabadi and Shahab Ghourehjili also fetched three bronze medals in men's 66-kilogram, 85-kilogram and 130-kilogram weight classes.

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 155 medals (60 gold, 52 silvers and 43 bronzes).

Azerbaijan has claimed the second spot with 116 medals (59 gold, 33 silvers, 24 bronzes), while the Islamic Republic of Iran is on the third with a total of 67 medals (16 gold, 22 silvers and 29 bronzes).

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

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