2026 Asian Games: Iran’s Barimanlou wins historic kurash gold, country's first Asian kurash title

Iran’s Majid Vahid Barimanlou won the men’s -66kg gold medal in kurash at the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya on Tuesday, securing Iran’s first title in the discipline at the Games.

Barimanlou advanced to the quarterfinals with a 5-0 victory over Kyrgyzstan’s Islam Kamchybekov before defeating Afghanistan’s Rahimullah Najmi 10-0 to reach the semifinals.

The Iranian then overcame Kyrgyzstan’s Kubanychbek Aibek in the semifinals to book his place in the gold-medal bout, where he defeated Tajikistan’s Bobokulonov to claim the title.

The victory marked a significant step up from Barimanlou’s silver medal at the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, where he also competed in the -66kg category.

Kurash, a traditional Uzbek martial art, was contested over three days at the Asian Games, with the final day featuring the men’s -66kg and women’s +87kg categories. More than 30 athletes from 16 countries competed on Tuesday.

Iran also added two medals in the discipline. Fatemeh Barmaki took bronze in the women’s +87kg category after reaching the semifinals. She defeated Chinese Taipei’s Yachung Yang in the quarterfinals before losing to compatriot Chinese Taipei representative Shi Liuling in the semifinals.

A day earlier, Ramin Ahmadzadeh won silver in the men’s -81kg category. He reached the final after victories over Thailand’s Rattanan Kaunsatan, Turkmenistan’s Ahmad Charif and Japan’s Ken Oyoshi, before losing 3-0 to Uzbekistan’s Akzhol Ziyodullaev in the gold-medal bout.

The results gave Iran a haul of one gold, one silver and one bronze from its kurash campaign at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.

Iran now ranks 6th in the medals table with a haul of nine 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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