TOKYO – Iran’s karateka Sajad Ganjzadeh has won the gold medal in the men’s karate at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
The scintillating performance of the Iranian athlete reached its peak during the final bout of the +75-kilogram weight category on Saturday.
Ganjzadeh was behind by one point to four that his opponent from Saudi Arabia Tareg Hamedi had accumulated.
But the tables turned when the Saudi martial artist violated the rules of fight by an infringement, which is technically known as Hansoku.
The Iranian, who won by Hansoku, was taken out of the tatami due to his injury. Ganjzadeh was back on the podium, recovered.
His medal put the number of gold medals won by Iran’s team of Olympians at the 2020 tournament at three. Iran collected seven medals overall.
The Iranian karate practitioner had beaten Turkish U. Aktas to reach the final.
With seven medals, Iran is now standing at 27th place in the medal tally of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.