Patong Beach, THAILAND (November 17) – Capping an already successful season on the mats, the Iranian men’s beach wrestling team swept the beach wrestling competition at the Asian Beach Games, taking gold at -70kg, -80kg and +80kg weight categories.

In September, Iran took the Greco-Roman team title at the 2014 Wrestling World Championship in Tashkent and won the men’s freestyle and Greco-Roman World Cups

In women’s beach wrestling the Games three gold medals were divided evenly among Japan, Kazakhstan and Korea.

[[{"fid":"2258","view_mode":"wysiwyg","type":"media","link_text":null,"attributes":{"height":440,"width":850,"class":"media-element file-wysiwyg"}}]]Beach wrestling, a discipline becoming much more popular around the world, is competed on loose sand within a six meter roped circle. Competitors win by scoring two points, which they can achieve by forcing their opponent our of the ring (one point), taking them down (one point), or taking an opponent down directly to their back (two points).

Iran dominated the men’s competition with Mohummad NADERI (-70kg), Seyedkamran HOSSEINIJAM (-80kg) and Jaber SADEGHZADEH (+80kg) cruising past the competition to defeat all of their group stage opponents on their way to gold.

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In female beach wrestling it was Japan who struck gold first with Hikaru AONO (-50kg) winning top prize without ceding a single point. At -60kg it was Korea’s Kyeongeun KIM who captured gold while utilizing several double leg takedowns and one overhook takedown on the edge of the boundary line. Kazakhstan’s Olga KALININA closed out the competition scoring her country’s first wrestling gold with a sweep of the field at +70kg.

“We are seeing that beach wrestling is becoming popular very fast,” said United World Wrestling president Nenad Lalovic. “The Asian Beach Games has given more of our national federations the opportunity to compete and prove themselves worthy of high-level competition.”

Overall wrestlers from 13 counties won medals in the Beach Wrestling tournament, including less-often seen competitors from Pakistan, Syria and Indonesia. These competitors, along[[{"fid":"2369","view_mode":"wysiwyg","type":"media","link_text":null,"attributes":{"height":440,"width":850,"style":"width: 400px; height: 207px; float: right; margin: 5px;","class":"media-element file-wysiwyg"}}]]with Thai and Vietnamese female wrestlers who scored medals at each weight, made the competition exciting for fans from the region.

The success of beach wrestling at the 2014 Asian Beach Games coincides with the recent announcement that Sport Accord, with the approval of ANOC, would be hosting a 2017 World Beach Games with wrestling likely to be included among the sports of the inaugural games.
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Results

Men’s Beach Wrestling

-70kg
GOLD: Mohummad NADERI (IRI)
SILVER Abdullraahman IBRAHIM (QAT)
BRONZE: Nurlan BEKZHANOV (KAZ)
BRONZE: Padipat WANTAWONG (THA)

-80kg
GOLD: Seyedkamran HOSSEINIJAM (IRI)
SILVER: Didar BAYRAMOW (TKM)
BRONZE: Muhammad ASAD (PAK)
BRONZE: Bauyrzhan IZBASSAR (KAZ)

+80kg
GOLD: Jaber SADEGHZADEH (IRI)
SILVER: Bekbolsun KUSHUBAKOV (KGZ)
BRONZE: Maher ALKHAYAT (SYR)
BRONZE: Muhamma INAM (PAK)

Female Beach Wrestling

-50kg
GOLD: Hikaru AONO (JPN)
SILVER Maliwan MUANGPOR (THA)
BRONZE Thi Xuan NGUYEN (VIE)
BRONZE: Heka Masa SEMBIRING (INA)

-60kg
GOLD: Kyeongeun KIM (KOR)
SILVER: Thi Nga NGUYEN (VIE)
BRONZE: Samnang NI (CAM)
BRONZE: Kanjana THONGKAN (THA)

+60kg
GOLD: Olga KALININA (KAZ)
SILVER: Miku SAITO (JPN)
BRONZE: Thi Sam LUONG (VIE)
BRONZE: Banjong POONMART (THA)