2026 Asian Games: Iran’s 17-year-old Beheshti wins bronze in women’s weightlifting

Iran’s Mahsa Beheshti claimed the bronze medal in the women’s 86kg weightlifting competition at the 2026 Asian Games in Nagoya, totaling 259kg.

The 17-year-old Beheshti lifted 113kg in the snatch to sit fourth after the opening discipline on Tuesday. She then missed her opening clean and jerk at 140kg before successfully lifting 146kg with her second attempt.

That gave her a total of 259kg and secured third place after Turkmenistan’s Anamjan Rustamova failed with her final attempt.

China’s Wu Yan won the gold medal with a total of 273kg. Ukrainian world champion Alina Marushchak, competing under the Bahrain flag, claimed silver with a total of 272kg.

Beheshti was visibly emotional after the competition and apologized to the Iranian people for not being able to secure a higher medal.

The women’s 86kg class was one of the final weightlifting events at the Aichi-Nagoya Games. The competition was held at the Nagoya City Trade and Industry Center, with weightlifting featuring 150 athletes from 31 National Olympic Committees.

Beheshti arrived in Nagoya after an outstanding performance at the Asian Youth and Junior Championships in Tashkent last month. She won six gold medals across the youth and junior competitions, including a 261kg total in the junior 86kg category.

Her coach, Elham Hosseini, said Beheshti had not fully recovered from the Tashkent competition only a few weeks earlier, which affected her consistency. Still, Hosseini said the teenager fought hard for the podium.

Hosseini also pointed to the experience gap between Beheshti and many of her rivals, noting that the Iranian lifter is still a teenager competing against athletes with years of international experience and higher established totals.

“She is one of the youngest weightlifters in these competitions and certainly still has a lot of room to improve,” Hosseini said, adding that the bronze medal would provide valuable experience for Beheshti’s development.

The result gave Iran its second women’s weightlifting medal of the Asian Games. Reyhaneh Karimi had earlier won bronze in the women’s 77kg category, marking Iran’s first-ever Asian Games medal in women’s weightlifting.

Iran now ranks 8th in the medals table with a haul of eight gold, 15 silver, and 11 bronze medals.

The Aichi-Nagoya Games are being held from September 19 to October 4 across venues in Japan, with around 17,000 athletes and officials from 45 countries and regions competing in 43 sports.

Iran's delegation, named “Minab Angels”—a tribute to the victims of the US-Israeli attack on Shajareh Tayyebe Elementary School in Minab on February 28—is competing at the Games with 305 athletes across 38 sports.

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