Iranian athletes get more medals in 2017 Islamic Solidarity Games

Islamic sportsmen and women have received eight more medals, half of them gold, at the ongoing 4th edition of Islamic Solidarity Games in Azerbaijan, to raise their country’s medal count to 82 in the multinational and multi-sport event.

On Saturday, Iran’s Paralympian athlete Saman Pakbaz competed in the men's shot put F12 category. He exhibited an inspiring display of athletic skills and might at the Baku Olympic Stadium in the Azerbaijani capital city of Baku, and threw the shot 15.69 meters to snatch gold

His compatriot Masoud Heidari came 2nd with a throw of 15.00 meters. The bronze went to Uzbekistan’s Elbek Sultonov with a throw of 14.70 meters.

Iran’s freestyle wrestler Mostafa Hosseinkhani overcame Azerbaijani opponent Murtazali Raxmatulla Muslimov 10-0 in the last contest of the 70-kilogram weight class at the Heydar Aliyev Arena and won the gold medal.

Hassan Yazdanicharati also picked up a gold medal for the Iranian team in the 86-kilogram division, and Masoud Esmaeilpoorjouybari settled for the 61-kilogram bronze.

Additionally, Iranian freestyle wrestler Jaber Sadeqzadeh received a bronze medal in the 125-kilogram weight category. 

Iran men’s national zurkhaneh team, comprised of Himan Mirzaei, Mobin Zibalagha, Mohsen Golestanizadeh, Pezhman Sokoonati and Ali Jalijoo, tallied 831 points in the men's group team skills section, and was awarded the gold medal.

The Azerbaijani and Afghanistan teams finished runner-up and in the third place with 581 and 526 points respectively.

Furthermore, Iranian diver Shahnam Nazarpour earned the bronze medal in the men's 10m platform section, having racked up 303.65 points.

Turkish contestant Kivanc Gur and Artem Danilov from Azerbaijan got the gold and silver medals respectively with 320.95 and 308.70 points.

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.

Azerbaijan is on the top of the medal count table with 134 medals (66 gold, 39 silvers and 29 bronzes).

Turkey has claimed the second spot with 172 medals (65 gold, 58 silvers, 49 bronzes), while the Islamic Republic of Iran is on the third with a total of 82 medals (24 gold, 25 silvers and 33 bronzes).

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

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