Bahrain signed off from the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, yesterday in spectacular fashion, winning another two gold medals to complete a sensational record haul for the Kingdom.
World champion wrestler Akhmed Tazhudinov and multi-titled weightlifter Gor Minasyan captured a gold medal each in their respective events.
Tazhudinov was the winner in the men’s freestyle wrestling 97kg category, while Minasyan took first place in the men’s weightlifting over 109 kg competition.
Minasyan had extra reason to celebrate as he also set three new Asiad records en route to securing his title.
Their victories earned the Kingdom’s delegation a remarkable 12 gold medals in Hangzhou—their best ever in the history of the Asian Games.
They eclipsed the national team’s previous best of 10 golds won in the last edition of the Asiad in 2018, held in Jakarta and Palembang, Indonesia.
The Bahraini delegation also raised their overall tally to 20, with three silver medals and five bronzes adding to their golden dozen.
The total includes medals won in five sports, including athletics, handball, jiu-jitsu, wrestling, and weightlifting.
Bahrain retained their ranking in ninth place on the medal table based on gold and 16th based on totals amongst the 41 nations to have stepped onto the podium.
The Kingdom remained the top-ranked Arab nation on the table.
Today is the concluding day of the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, with the closing ceremony scheduled to take place at 3 p.m. Bahrain time.
Bahrain has enjoyed a fantastic campaign at the multi-sport event, competing with their largest-ever delegation while going for gold in 17 sports.
In the men’s freestyle 97kg competition yesterday, Tazhudinov captured his gold medal after defeating Mojtaba Goleij of Iran 6-1 in their weight category’s final.
After both athletes were tied 1-1 at the end of the first period, Tazhudinov scored five technical points in the second to secure his crown.
It was the first-ever gold of his career in the Asian Games, and it added to his world title and Asian title claimed just earlier this year.
The 20-year-old kicked off his medal campaign earlier yesterday with a 7-3 victory over Awusayiman Habila of China in their 1/8 finals contest.
Tazhudinov moved on to defeat Kanybek Abdulkhairov of Kyrgyzstan by fall in the 1/4 finals, and then beat Juhwan Seo of South Korea 6-1 in the semi-finals to set up his gold medal contest with Mojtaba Goleij of Iran.
Meanwhile, Bahrain’s Magomed Sharipov missed out on a chance to win the bronze medal in the men’s freestyle 86kg category, and countryman Magomedrasul Asluev could not challenge for a podium in the men’s freestyle 74kg class.
In the men’s freestyle 86kg category, Sharipov lost his bronze medal bout 0-3 to Javrail Shapiev of Uzbekistan.
Previously in his weight class, the 21-year-old lost his qualification round clash against Deepak Punia of India 2-3, putting him in the repechage round.
There, he first took care of Randa Riandesta of Indonesia with a victory by technical superiority and then defeated Shota Shirai of Japan 6-0.
That earned him his place in the bronze medal match against Shapiev.
In the men’s freestyle 74kg class, Asluev won his qualification round contest against Parinya Chamnanjan of Thailand by technical superiority.
But in the 1/8 final, Asluev lost to Bekzod Abdurakhmonov 0-2 to get eliminated.
In the men’s weightlifting over 109 kg competition, Bahrain’s Minasyan put on a world-class display, powering to his crown while setting new Asian Games records in the snatch, clean and jerk, and total.
The 28-year-old, who came away with a superb medal double at the World Weightlifting Championships 2023 just last month, had a snatch of 212 kg—the only competitor from yesterday’s field of nine to lift over 200kg.
He then had a clean and jerk lift of 245kg. That earned him a total of 457kg to complete his trio of new records.
Minasyan blew away the opposition, with his closest challenger and silver medalist Ali Davoudi from Iran finishing with a 426kg total.
Rustam Djangabaev of Uzbekistan clinched bronze with a 423kg total.
