Iran claim two gold medals in Asian Athletics Championship

Iranian athletes Ehsan Hadadi and Hadi Sepehrzad won two gold medals in the 19th Asian Athletics Championships in Kobe, Japan.

In the men's discus throw, Ehsan hadadi claimed his fourth Asian title in a row with a throw of 62.27m. Indian Vikas Gowda finished at the second place with 61.58m and the bronze medal went to Wu Jian from China who threw 56.16m.

Hadadi holds the Asian record of 69.32 but had difficulty matching that in the heavy rain.

Hadi Sepehrzad won the gold in the decathlon with 7506 points. Akihiko Nakamura from Japan claimed the silver by 7478 points and Bharat Inder Singh seized the bronze with 7358 points.

“I am very happy to be the Asian champion. I was injured and I couldn't work out for five months. I haven't competed in the past meetings, so I was expecting it would be impossible to be in the World Championships. If I am qualified, I will be very happy,” Sepehrzad said.

Also, Iran’s Sajad Moradi claimed the silver in the men’s 1500 meters with a time of 3:43.30. Mohammad Alazemi from Kuwait won the gold with 3:42.49 and C.I. Wijekoon of Sri Lanka was third in 3:44.01.

Approximately 500 athletes from 45 countries are competing at the Kobe Universiade Stadium in the championships which end on Sunday.