Gold rush in Tashkent: Iranian lifters dominate Asian Youth & Junior Weightlifting Championships

By Mohammad Ali Haqshenas

Iranian men’s and women’s weightlifting teams delivered one of the country’s strongest performances in the history of Asian age-group competition at the 2026 Asian Youth & Junior Weightlifting Championships, returning home with a haul of gold medals.

Held from August 7 to 14 at the Uzbekistan Sports Complex in Tashkent, the continental championships brought together more than 300 lifters from 29 countries.

Competition was contested across two age categories: the Youth division, featuring athletes aged 13 to 17, and the Junior division, for lifters aged 15 to 20.

Youth division: Boys top the medal table, girls reach historic second

Iranian boys finished atop the overall medal table, collecting nine gold, four silver and two bronze medals. Kazakhstan placed second with four gold, five silver and two bronze, while the Philippines finished third with three gold, two silver and three bronze.

Iranian girls did not lag behind as they produced the competition’s best-ever finish, claiming second place with six gold, three silver and three bronze medals. The Philippines topped the medal table with seven gold and one silver, while Kazakhstan took third spot with five gold, two silver and seven bronze.

Combined, Iran’s boys and girls won 15 gold medals, more than any other competing nation at the championships, and topped the overall medal table with 15 gold, seven silver and five bronze. The Philippines finished second with 10 gold, three silver and three bronze, while Kazakhstan placed third with nine gold, seven silver and nine bronze.

In the team-points standings, Iran finished runner-up in both categories. The girls scored 534 points, three points behind Kazakhstan’s winning total of 551, with Uzbekistan third on 514. The boys also placed second with 530 points, behind Uzbekistan’s 553, while Kazakhstan finished third with 506.

Combined, Iran finished runner-up overall with 1,064 points, just three behind Uzbekistan’s 1,067, while Kazakhstan was third with 1,057.

Iranian young lifters achieved that total with 15 athletes taking part in the competition, one fewer than both Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, which each fielded 16 lifters.

Standout youth medalists:

• Mohammad Javad Beiranvand (men's 75kg, Youth, Junior and Central Asian classifications): swept all three disciplines for nine gold medals, lifting 145kg in the snatch and 180kg in the clean and jerk for a 325kg total.
• Taha Nojavan (men's +95kg Youth): gold in all three disciplines with a 176kg snatch, 215kg clean and jerk and 391kg total.
• Pouria Abbaspourian (men's +95kg Youth): three silver medals, lifting 175kg, 215kg and a 318kg total.
• Mahsa Beheshti (women's +77kg Youth): gold in all three disciplines with a 113kg snatch, 148kg clean and jerk and 261kg total.
• Anahita Zarei (women's 77kg Youth): gold in the clean and jerk and total, bronze in the snatch, finishing with a 218kg total.
• Nasim Ghasemi (women's 77kg Youth): gold in the snatch, silver in the clean and jerk and total.
• Mohammadamin Dadvand (men's 85kg Youth): gold in the clean and jerk and total, silver in the snatch, for a 323kg total.
• Reza Zamani (men's 70kg Youth): gold in the snatch, bronze in the clean and jerk and total, for a 268kg total.
• Hajar Moeini (women's 61kg Youth): silver in the snatch, bronze in the clean and jerk and total, for a 195kg total.

Junior division: Girls reach first-ever podium, boys finish third

In the junior division, the Iranian girls’ team reached the Asian team podium for the first time in the history of the continental championship.

Coached by Elham Hosseini, the team finished third in the team-points standings with 470 points, ahead of Mongolia and Turkmenistan. Uzbekistan won the team title with 558 points, while Kazakhstan finished runner-up with 522.

Iran’s junior women also walked away with four gold, two silver and six bronze medals.

Iran’s junior boys’ team, coached by 2016 Olympic champion Sohrab Moradi, likewise finished third in a closely contested team-points race, scoring 543 points, just 10 points short of the Asian title. Kazakhstan won with 553 points, while Uzbekistan placed second with 549.

In the overall medal standings, however, Iran’s junior boys’ team finished comfortably on top, winning nine gold, five silver and three bronze medals. The Philippines was their closest challenger with four gold and two bronze.

The difference between Iran’s medal-table dominance and its team-points finish highlights an important feature of weightlifting competition. Team titles are determined by points, not medal counts. Each lifter earns points based on their placing in their respective weight category, meaning a team with strong depth across multiple classes can outscore a team that wins more medals but has fewer high finishes elsewhere.

As a result, Iran topped the junior boys’ medal table with the championships’ highest gold-medal haul but finished runner-up to Uzbekistan in the official team-points standings.

Standout junior medalists:

• Mohammad Javad Beiranvand (men's 75kg, Junior, Youth and Central Asian classifications): part of his nine-gold sweep across all three age groups (see above).
• Taha Nojavani (men's +110kg Junior): silver in the snatch, bronze in the clean and jerk and total.
• Mahsa Beheshti (women's 86kg Junior): gold in all three disciplines, carrying over her Youth-division marks to top the Junior field without a second day of competition. She was also named the championships' strongest female lifter.
• Anahita Zarei (women's 77kg Junior): silver in the clean and jerk, on the same 126kg lift that earned her Youth gold.
• Hamidreza Zarei (men's 95kg Junior): gold in all three disciplines, lifting 164kg in the snatch and a world-record 214kg in the clean and jerk for a 378kg total.
• Farhad Gholizadeh (men's 110kg Junior): gold in all three disciplines with a 382kg total.
• Taha Nemati Moghaddam (men's +110kg Junior): bronze in the snatch, silver in the clean and jerk and total, for a 392kg total.
• Mehrab Davasari (men's 70kg Junior): silver in the clean and jerk and total.
• Hasti Sedighi (women's 69kg Junior): gold in the clean and jerk.
• HaniehSharifi (women's 69kg Junior): bronze in the total, for a 211kg mark.
• Maryam Keshtkar (women's Junior): bronze in the snatch, clean and jerk and total, for a 205kg mark.
• Roya Nourinejad (women's +86kg Junior): bronze in the clean and jerk.
• HasnaAmiri (women's +86kg Junior): silver in the snatch, bronze in the total.

A wave of records

Thirty-three Asian and world youth records fell during the championships, with Iranian lifters accounting for 16 of them, nearly half of all records set across the competition.

Beiranvand rewrote the record books in the men’s 75kg category, setting three Asian youth records and three world youth records.

In the +95kg category, Abbaspourian broke the Asian youth record twice and the world youth record twice. Nojavan also set three Asian youth records and three world youth records in the same weight class. In the junior 95kg category, Hamidreza Zarei’s 214kg clean and jerk established a new world record.

Iran’s incredible bench strength in the junior men’s field was further underlined by the individual best-lifter rankings. Nojavan, Beiranvand and Abbaspourian swept the top three places, the first time in championship history that lifters from the same country occupied all three positions.

Nojavan led the standings with 1,159 points, followed by Beiranvand with 1,133 and Abbaspourian with 1,063.

Nojavan was named the championships’ top youth lifter, while Beheshti earned the top junior lifter award. Five of the overall top 20 lifters and seven of the top 40 train under Moradi, demonstrating the depth of Iran’s emerging weightlifting talent.

Officials accolades

News of the record-breaking results from young and promising lifters drew praise from senior Iranian government officials, including President Masoud Pezeshkian.

President Pezeshkian called the junior women’s historic podium finish a milestone for Iranian sport. He described the team’s Asian silver medal as a valuable first and noted that Iranian women have repeatedly demonstrated their ability across a wide range of fields.

He added that the government’s goal is to help remove obstacles and create opportunities for this talented and promising generation.

Vice President for Women and Family Affairs Zahra Behrouz-Azar described the achievement as a source of pride for Iranian sport and a significant moment for the country’s women. She congratulated the athletes, their families, and coaching staff, and said officials would continue working to support further achievements by young Iranian women.

Sports and Youth Minister Ahmad Donyamali said the women’s medal haul was a clear indication of Iran’s high standing in Asian sport.

He attributed the results, achieved in a highly competitive field, to years of planning and investment in the development of weightlifting. Donyamali also praised the men’s runner-up finish and congratulated the teams on their performances.

The results were particularly notable against the backdrop of the disruption caused by the US-Israeli war of aggression against Iran since February 28, which complicated training sessions and national-team camps across multiple sports, including weightlifting.

Years from now, on bigger stages such as the Olympics, this championship will be remembered as a quiet beginning, when a new generation of Iranian lifters began making its mark on Asian podiums, largely away from the global spotlight.

Among these names could be future champions who one day have the opportunity to lift an Iranian flag on the world’s biggest sporting stage.

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