Iranians collect three Karate 1 PL golds

October 06, 2019 - Iran grabbed five kumite medals, including three golds, at the 2019 Karate 1 Premier League in Moscow, capital of Russia, claiming the top spot of the sixth round of the competitions.

On Sunday, Iran’s Sara Bahmanyar beat German Shara Hubrich 1-0 in the women’s -50kg final to claim her second successive gold at this year’s competitions, having won the first in Tokyo, Japan, in early September.

Azerbaijan’s Nurane Aliyeva and Ranran Li of China jointly settled for the bronze medals of the division.

Rozita Alipour also finished her campaign with a gold medal to boost her chances of securing a place in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

ALipour, representing Iran in the women’s -61kg weight class, overcame Haya Jumaa of Canada 1-0 in the final.

Serbian Jovana Prekovic and Xiaoyan Yin shared the third spot of the category.

Zabihollah Poursheib took the country’s gold tally to three with a victory in the men’s -84kg final.

Poursheib, 31, a three-time world gold medalist, beat Japanese Ryutaro Araga in the final with Russian Denis Denisenko and Jessie Da Costa of France – beaten by Poursheib in the semis – taking the bronze medals.

Additionally, Sajjad Ganjzadeh took the men’s +84kg silver after suffering a 7-3 defeat against Gogita Arkania of Georgia.

Bahman Asgari had opened the account for Iran with a men’s -75kg bronze, following a 3-1 victory over Rodrigo Saenz-Torre.

Spain followed Iran in the overall standings with five medals (two golds), followed by Azerbaijan, Japan and Russia.

More than 600 karatekas represented 85 countries at the sixth round of the competitions on October 4-6.

Source: http://www.iran-daily.com/News/259817.html