TASHKENT (Dispatches) -- Iran’s young weightlifters produced a standout performance at the 2026 Asian Youth and Junior Weightlifting Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, collecting 27 medals, including 15 gold, seven silver and five bronze, while both the men’s and women’s youth teams finished runners-up in the continental standings.
The strongest individual performance came from Muhammad Javad Beiranvand, who delivered a remarkable nine-gold sweep in the men’s 75-kilogram category. 
The 16-year-old Iranian won gold in the snatch, clean and jerk and overall total in the youth, junior and Central Asian classifications, giving him nine gold medals from a single competition. He also broke three world youth records, underlining the scale of his performance.
For ordinary viewers, weightlifting awards medals for three achievements in each weight class: the snatch, in which the athlete lifts the bar from the floor to overhead in one continuous movement; the clean and jerk, which involves bringing the bar to the shoulders before driving it overhead; and the total, which combines the athlete’s best successful lift in each discipline. 
At this championship, athletes could also appear in both youth and junior classifications, explaining why some Iranian lifters accumulated several medals.
Iran’s men finished second in the youth team standings with 530 points, just behind hosts Uzbekistan, who scored 553. Kazakhstan was third with 506. 
Despite competing with one fewer athlete than Uzbekistan, Iran still produced the stronger medal haul, winning nine gold, four silver and two bronze medals.
Iran’s women also made history. The girls’ team collected six gold, three silver and three bronze medals and secured 534 points to finish second behind Kazakhstan’s 551. Uzbekistan placed third with 514. It was Iran’s first-ever Asian runner-up finish in the women’s youth team competition.
One of the leading performances on the women’s side came from Mahsa Beheshti, who completed a six-gold haul. 
Competing in the youth +77kg category, Beheshti lifted 113kg in the snatch and 148kg in the clean and jerk for a 261kg total, winning all three youth gold medals. Those marks were also enough to give her three junior 86kg gold medals, taking her championship tally to six.
Earlier in the competition, Iranian lifters Anahita Zarei and Nasim Ghasemi combined for six medals in the women’s 77kg category. Zarei won two golds and a bronze, while Ghasemi took one gold and two silvers. Zarei also competed across youth and junior classifications, contributing significantly to Iran’s overall medal count.
The results show that Iran’s strength in weightlifting is extending beyond its established senior stars to a new generation. Although neither youth team won the overall title, finishing second in both competitions while producing 27 medals and several record-breaking performances made Tashkent a highly successful championship for Iran.