ASHGABAT (Dispatches) – Iranian sportsmen and women continue to bring honor to their country through laudable performances at the ongoing 5th edition of Asian Indoor & Martial Arts Games in Turkmenistan, and received thirteen more medals to boost the Islamic Republic’s medal count to 52 at the international multi-sport event.
On Thursday, Iranian Muaythai boxer Fatemeh Yavari lost to her Vietnamese opponent Bui Yen Ly 27-30 in the final contest of women’s minus 51-kilogram weight category, and picked up the silver medal.
Saeedeh Ghaffari also faced Ratchadaphon Wihantamma, a representative from Thailand, in the title challenge of women’s minus 60-kilogram, and lost the fight to earn a silver.
Later in the tournament, Ali Zarrinfar, Keivan Soleimani and Majid Hashembeigi snatched three gold medals for the Islamic republic of Iran in the men’s minus 60-kilogram, minus 75-kilogram and minus 81-kilogram weight divisions respectively.
Muaythai is a combat sport of Thailand, which uses stand-up striking along with various clinching techniques.
It includes combat on shins and is known as "the art of eight limbs.”
Muaythai is characterized by the combined use of fists, elbows, knees, shins, being associated with a good physical preparation that makes a full-contact fighter very efficient.
Furthermore, Iranian taekwondo practitioner Tayebeh Parsa earned a bronze medal in the women’s minus 57-kilogram class.
Kurash wrestlers Ghanbarali Ghanbari and Omid Tiztak were awarded two bronze medals in the men’s minus 66-kilogram and minus 73-kilogram weight categories.
The Turkmen national wrestling competition, kurash (also written as goresh), is a kind of wrestling on belts that has ancient roots, and dates back to as early as the third century BC. Wrestlers need to earn points by forcing the opponent to touch the mat with any part of the body except a foot.
Kurash competitions are staged in four formats, namely round, shootout, mixed and team.
During the round format contests, athletes compete with all wrestlers in the same weight category. If there are many wrestlers in one weight division, the participants are divided into two groups. Wrestlers who earn the first and second places in each group will be in action for the final showdowns.
Wrestlers are eliminated from the rest of the competition once they lose in the shootout format.
In the mixed format, wrestlers start with the round format for the preliminary round and then shift to the shootout format.
According to the team format, only one athlete from each weight category of a team is allowed to participate. Participating teams will fight one-on-one in the competitions.
Iranian cueist Soheil Vahedi also displayed noteworthy skills at the men's snooker singles, and got the silver medal.
Additionally, Iranian Pahlavani wrestlers Mohammad Naderi, Arashk Mohebbi and Ahmad Mirzapour produced awe-inspiring performances, and stood atop the podium in the men’s 70-kilogram, 90-kilogram and over 90-kilogram weight sections.
The 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games, which is the 5th edition of the continental tournament, opened in the Turkmen capital city of Ashgabat on September 17, and will finish on September 27.