Iran’s Ganjzadeh wins Asian Games karate gold
August 25, 2018 - Iran’s Sajjad Ganjzadeh won a gold medal in Karate contests of the 2018 Asian Games currently underway in Jakarta, Indonesia.
On Saturday, Ganjzadeh outpointed Vietnam’s Nguyen Minh Phung 5-2 in the final of the men's +84kg bouts to take the top podium, varzesh3.com reported.
En route to the final showdown, the world gold medalist first powered past an opponent from Saudi Arabia (4-1) and then, in the semifinals, a Kyrgyzstani rival (2-1).
Ganjzadeh’s gold took Iran’s gold medal tally to 14.
The Saudi Arabian and Kyrgyzstani karatekas jointly claimed third place.
In the previous edition of the Asian Games in South Korea, Ganjzadeh had failed to clinch a medal.
Earlier in the day, Ganjzadeh’s compatriot Hamideh Abbasali settled for a bronze medal after defeating a rival from Vietnam 3-0 in the third-place match of the women’s +68kg category.
Prior to the final match, the Iranian Karateka had outscored an opponent from Uzbekistan. She, however, failed to pull off a victory in her bout against a Japanese rival in the semifinals and conceded a 1-2 defeat.
She had clinched gold in the previous edition of the Asian Games.
Iran’s squad in these competitions comprises eight karatekas of whom half are men.
Iran’s men squad consists of Amir Mehdizadeh, Bahman Asgari, Zabihollah Poursheib and Ganjzadeh. The country’s women team comprises Taravat Khaksar, Rozita Alipour, Abbasali and Pegah Zanganeh.
The 2018 Asian Games, officially known as the 18th Asian Games, is a pan-Asian multi-sport event which opened on August 18 and will continue until September 2 in the Indonesian cities of Jakarta and Palembang.
The athletes compete in 465 events across 40 sports and 67 disciplines in these competitions, also known as Jakarta Palembang 2018.