Iranian athletes continued their strong performance at the Bahrain 2025 Asian Youth Games, collecting gold, silver and bronze medals across Taekwondo poomsae, Kabaddi and MMA events.
Naqiei
claimed the country’s first gold medal after defeating his Chinese rival in the
boys’ poomsae final with a score of 8.76. Moments later, Zeinab Shahriari won
the second gold in the girls’ event, beating her opponent from the Philippines
8.86–8.60. The pair then joined forces to secure another gold in the mixed team
poomsae competition. In freestyle poomsae, Mohammad Amin Habibzadeh and Sana
Shayegan each earned bronze medals in their individual categories, and together
added another bronze in the mixed freestyle event. Asal Gol-Tappeh, Iran’s
flagbearer in Bahrain, captured silver in the women’s over-63kg Taekwondo
division. She advanced to the final after victories over opponents from
Uzbekistan, India and Jordan, but lost to China’s Qing Zhang in two rounds. In
MMA, Ali-Asghar Moradi won bronze in the men’s 60kg class. He defeated rivals
from Jordan and Saudi Arabia before a foot injury forced him to withdraw from
the semi-final against Bahrain. Both Iranian Kabaddi teams also reached the
finals. The girls’ team took silver after defeating Thailand, Sri Lanka and
Bangladesh, but lost to India 75–21 in the gold medal match. The boys’ team,
coached by Mousavi, registered strong wins over Thailand, Pakistan, Bahrain and
Sri Lanka before narrowly losing to India 35–31 in the final.
Iran’s
“Ambassadors of Hope” delegation continues to demonstrate skill and
determination at the Bahrain 2025 Asian Youth Games, strengthening the
country’s growing reputation in youth sport across Asia.