Iran claims second spot at Asian karate meet
Iran finished as the runnerup at the 2018 AKF Senior Championships in Jordan, collecting eight medals – including four golds.
On Sunday and the final day of the competitions, Mehdi Khodabakhshi, Saleh Abazari and Bahman Asgari overcame opponents from Saudi Arabia in the final of the men’s kumite team final to secure Iran’s fourth and final gold medal in the tournament.
Kazakhstan and Japan grabbed the joint-bronze medals.
This was Abazari’s second gold in the competitions as the Iranian had outpowered his Japanese opponent 8-0 in the A third-place finish at the World Cup on Saturday leaves a strong legacy for Belgian football, coach Roberto Martinez said, as he declared the tournament a success for his team.
“We set a real milestone and it is exactly what these players deserved,” he said after the 2-0 playoff win over England at the Saint Petersburg Stadium ensured Belgium’s best ever World Cup finish, ESPN reported.
“We wanted to win it. Obviously, when you beat Brazil and you get into the semifinals, the focus has to be on men’s +84kg kumite final on Saturday.
Khodabakhsi also took his trying to win the World Cup. But we also have to be realistic and when you look back at the tournament, these players made history back in Belgium, and that’s all that matters,” Martinez said.
He noted that the team had gone one step further than the Belgian squad at the 1986 World Cup, which lost its playoff match and finished fourth.
“The generation of ‘86 in Mexico were always an inspiration and set a vision for all football in Belgium, and now this group of players have exceeded medal-tally to two as he had managed to win a bronze in the men’s -84kg kumite contests.
Also on Saturday, Majid Hassan-nia, representing Iran in the men’s -55kg kumite bouts, routed a Saudi karateka 6-2 in the final to clinch the gold.
In the women’s contests, Iran’s +68kg kumite sensation Hamideh Abbas-ali dominated her weight class and routed her rival from Chinese Taipei 8-0 in the final to collect her fourth gold in the history of the Asian championships.
Moreover, Ali-asghar that, and that’s historic. It’s taken 32 years to be in this position and that gives a real sense of satisfaction,” Martinez added.
“It is the manner in which we achieved it. The way we played with our brand of Belgian football, the togetherness and the flexibility we had showed tactically.
“It’s been a really successful journey, but in football you need to look forward and look to improve with the next opportunity we have.”
Martinez said Belgium now needs Asiabari suffered a narrow 6-4 defeat against the host’s representative in the final to settle for the men’s -75kg silver.
In addition, Shima Al-e Sa’di (women’s -61kg kumite) and Iran’s women’s kata team comprising of Elnaz Taghipour, Najmeh Qazizadeh and Shadi Ja’afari added two more bronzes to Iran’s medals count.
A total of eight medals gave Iran a second-spot finish behind Japan – which bagged seven golds, one silver and one bronze – with Jordan finishing third with two golds and one silver.
The 15th edition of the competitions was held in the Jordanian capital of Amman on July 11-15.
to work on its junior structures and get its age-group teams winning more, “so that there can be a seamless flow of talent into the national team,” he said.
Martinez said allowing the players’ families in the team camp after Tuesday’s 1-0 semifinal loss to France had lifted the mood for the third-place playoff, always a difficult match for sides still wallowing in the disappointment of missing out on the World Cup final.
Sunday’s decider in Moscow, he added, would produce a worthy winner.
Belgium had only three days to recover from a devastating semifinal loss to the neighbor France which ended its dream of winning the nation’s firstever World Cup.
However, the result against England left defender Vincent Kompany beaming with pride.
“I’m extremely proud with this third place. We have suffered three days, because the defeat against France was difficult,” Kompany said of his side.
“We showed today that we really wanted to go for that third place. I couldn’t be more proud. It’s the first time in Belgian football history we become third. This is good for Belgium. As a young kid, I looked up to the performance of Belgium on the World Cup in 1986 in Mexico.
“This generation went one step further. We were close to the final. If we had reached the final, we would’ve won I think. But this is also beautiful. It’s a gift for our fans: six wins out of seven matches. Hats off to everyone.”