WKF Junior and Cadet and U21 Championships is held in Indonesia, Nov. 12-15. Iran has participated in championships in all age categories. In -67kg, Alireza Shirsefat won Slovakian representative Majik Homola 7-2 and Jordonian Mohammad al-Refayi 1-0. In the third round, he lost 1-3 to Saudi representative Badar al-Dhaybi. Al-Dhaybi’s defeat by Turkish representative in the next round automatically removed Shirsefat from the competition.
In -75, Aliasghar Asiabari had a strong start with a 5-0 win against German Felix Behandt. His second win was against Li Chung Fai from Hong Kong 4-0; Egyptian Omar Haghazi also lost to Asiabari 1-0, and an 8-0 win against Mathias Rodriguez of Chile sent him to semifinals, where Japanese Nishimura defeated Asiabari 7-2 to send him to losers’ group. In the group, he won by referees’ verdict against Italian Antonio di Stefano as both players were drawn 3-3, thus securing bronze medal.
In Junior’s section, Mehdi Qararizadeh defeated Belarusian representative in second chance category to bring another bronze to Iranian camp. Qararizadeh defeated Ahmet Chemron of Australia, Zi Yuan of China, Mehdi Filet of France, and Sebastian Olarezzi of Argentina, but lost to Indonesian representative to find a place only in losers group.
Of 9 Iranian representatives going to tatami, already in the competitions, Khoshkalam, Esmaili, Zohreh Tarazpour, and Shirsefat have been eliminated. Elias Mohammadzadeh who was in second chance category after wins against Azerbaijan, South Korea, and Uzbekistan, and a semifinal defeat against Japanese representative, fell short of gaining medal and platform in -68kg.
In -55kg of U21, women’s section, Zohreh Barzegar played for gold against Vietnamese karateka and defeated her 2-0 to secure the first gold. In the road to final, Barzegar defeated Carolina Wilda of Chile 1-0, Chinese Shi Yeng Ji, 2-1, S alasar of Venezuela, 3-2, and Lilian Vicda of Hungary, 5-0.
In -60kg, Miad Yari, who was to play in losers’ group, defeated his Indonesian and Australian rivals to find a bronze medal. In first round, Yari defeated Kaiser of Kazakhstan 4-1; in the second, he won Switzerland’s Toni Piscino 3-0, and in the third round, he defeated Sadreddin Saimatov of Uzbekistan. However, he lost to Turkish Ari Semdan 9-1 and was relegated to loser’s group. As Semdan was qualified for final, Yari was fortunate to find a chance for bronze.
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