Iran improves from seventh to sixth place with 19 gold medals, while women make historic breakthroughs in taekwondo and rowing and the volleyball team completes a fourth consecutive title run.

TEHRAN -- Iran closed its campaign at the 20th Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya on Saturday with 19 gold, 18 silver and 15 bronze medals, finishing sixth in the medal table — a one-place climb and six more golds than its previous outing.

The achievement came as the country endured seven months of a U.S.-Israeli terrorist war that destroyed sports facilities, bombed stadiums in Tehran, struck a gymnasium in Lamerd, and killed more than 150 schoolgirls in a single strike on a school in Minab.

The delegation, competing under the name "Angels of Minab" in honor of the victims of the Shajareh Tayyebeh school tragedy, improved on its seventh-place finish at Hangzhou 2022, where it won 13 gold, 21 silver and 20 bronze.

The six-gold increase represents a roughly 38.9 percent rise in gold medal output, with the share of gold among Iran's total medals rising from 24.1 percent in Hangzhou to 36.5 percent in Nagoya.

Iran's final gold came on Saturday as the men's volleyball team defeated Japan 3–1 to secure a fourth consecutive Asian Games title.

Amin Esmaeilnezhad led with 22 points. Arian Salimi added a gold in the men's +80kg taekwondo category, defeating Uzbekistan's Marat Mavlonov 2–0 in the final.

The wrestling team contributed heavily, with Yones Emami (74kg), Amirali Azarpira (97kg), Muhammad Nokhodi (86kg), Amirhussein Zare’ (125kg), Amin Mirzazadeh (130kg Greco-Roman) and Alireza Abdeval (77kg Greco-Roman) all winning gold.

The campaign unfolded against the backdrop of the 40-day Ramadan imposed war, during which U.S.-Israeli strikes destroyed the 12,000-seat Azadi Indoor Stadium in Tehran — the country's largest sports complex.

In the southern city of Lamerd, a missile strike on the Shahid Naeemi sports hall killed 21 civilians, including children and teenagers training at the facility, and wounded more than 100 others. The site is now slated to become a memorial for the "Rahian-e Noor" commemorative caravans.

But the single most devastating attack came on the first day of the war, when airstrikes destroyed a school in Minab in southern Iran, martyring more than 168 people — the vast majority of them girl students, many as young as seven years old.

"The destruction of sports facilities by the enemy does not disrupt the will and solidarity of athletes," said Hassan Karimi of the Basij Sports Organization, describing the attacks on Azadi and Lamerd as "a strike against the identity and vitality of a nation."

First Vice President Muhammad Reza Aref congratulated the delegation, calling the 52 medals "a manifestation of the capability and will of the country's youth" in a time when the nation needed hope and solidarity.

President Masoud Pezeshkian also praised the athletes, saying the medals were "another testimony to the capabilities of the youth of this land."

Parliament Speaker Muhammad Bagher Ghalibaf joined the wave of congratulations, stating that the athletes have "hoisted the flag of Iran high in the face of the enemy's war and economic pressure."

Beyond the gold count, Iran recorded historic firsts: Saghar Moradi won the country's first women's taekwondo gold at the Asian Games, Fatemeh Mojallal claimed the first women's rowing gold, and the women's kata team earned Iran's first women's team medal.

Iranian swimmers reached a final for the first time in 16 years, and the country won its first-ever medal in esports and men's artistic gymnastics vault.

Muhammad Reza Tayebi won gold in shot put after 52 years, setting an Asian Games record. Ali Davoudi broke the Asian and Asian Games records, while Ali Alipour set a world record. Iran also won its first-ever men's padel medal in its debut appearance.

Iran's 304 athletes earned medals across 21 sports disciplines, a record for the delegation. A total of 108 medal-equivalent results were registered, meaning 35.5 percent of the delegation won medals.

The women's performance was particularly notable. Iranian women won three gold medals — their best-ever showing at a single Asian Games — equaling 75 percent of the total four golds won by Iranian women in all previous editions before Nagoya.

The first women's taekwondo gold in history, the first women's rowing gold, the first women's weightlifting bronze, the first women's team medal in kata, and the first-ever women's medal in athletics track events all contributed to this historic breakthrough.

"What ultimately unfolded in Japan was less a narrative of difficulties than a narrative of overcoming them," Varzesh3 wrote, noting that neither war, economic pressure, nor the challenges of preparation diverted the delegation from its goal.

The sports outlet described Nagoya as "the story of a delegation that, in different and difficult circumstances, did not leave the field and fought for championship."

The Iranian flag was raised 19 times in Nagoya, compared to 13 times in Hangzhou — a clear message that Iranian sport, even in its darkest days, can compete for the highest honors. The national anthem of the Islamic Republic of Iran was played six more times than at the previous edition, a fact that Iranian officials highlighted as the most meaningful indicator of progress.

The games also exposed areas for improvement. Officials acknowledged that some federations underperformed relative to expectations, and the Ministry of Sport and the National Olympic Committee are expected to evaluate the performance of federations that returned without medals or overstated the significance of a single medal.

Yet the overarching narrative remained one of resilience. In a country still rebuilding from the damage of war, with stadiums in ruins and a school in Minab still mourned, 304 athletes carried the name "Angels of Minab" onto the field of play — and returned with 52 medals, a one-place climb, and six more golds than before.

As one official put it, "the enemy destroyed our stadiums, but could not destroy our will."