TEHRAN – Bahrain’s heavy investment in recruiting foreign athletes has resulted in the country’s own athletes accounting for only one of its 22 medals at the Nagoya Asian Games, while all 19 of Iran’s gold medals have been won by Iranian athletes.
 According to the isportsleague website, 20 of Bahrain’s 22 medals at the Asian Games in Nagoya had been won by foreign athletes. The report described Bahrain as the most foreign-reliant team at the Nagoya Games, saying that almost none of its medals had been won by Bahraini athletes.
It said sports development worldwide depends on investing in domestic talent development and supporting young athletes. In Iran’s case, this included Zarei’s gold medal in wrestling, Saghar Moradi’s gold in taekwondo, the volleyball gold and all 19 gold medals won by the Iranian delegation in Nagoya.
The report said Bahrain, by investing money and recruiting athletes with different nationalities, was effectively providing a temporary solution to the problems facing its domestic sports system. It cited The Times as describing the approach as “buying medals.”
According to isportsleague, Bahrain won 13 of its medals in athletics, with all of those athletes born outside Bahrain and representing countries including Kenya, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Russia, Colombia, Ukraine and Armenia.
The foreign outlet reported that foreign-born athletes won 10 of Bahrain’s 11 gold medals in Nagoya, meaning Bahraini youth and domestic talent accounted for only around 10 percent of the country’s medal haul.
By contrast, Iran won all 19 of its gold medals through athletes developed through the country’s domestic sports system, according to the report.