Tehran Times, Iran
Jan 25 2005
Iran garners four taekwondo golds at Women’s Games
TEHRAN (IRNA) — Iran collected four gold medals at taekwondo
competitions in the first Islamic and Muslim Capitals’ Women’s Games
here Monday.
Neda Zare’, Farzaneh Kalhor, Shokoufeh Karimi, and Shohreh
Khalajzadeh stood top in the first, third, fifth, and seventh weights
categories respectively.
In the first weight class, Zare’ handed Tehran the gold medal while
Nazila Nezami from Tehran Municipality won the silver and the bronze
went to Leila Hosseini from Afghanistan.
In the third weight, Kalhor from Municipality stole the show and
Hakimeh Khashei from Afghanistan snatched the bronze medal. Zeinab
Heidari from Tehran and Iraqi player Ra’na Abbassi tied at No. 3,
jointly bagging bronze.
In the fifth weight, Tehran’s Karimi took the gold medal, Kenarik
Gregorian from Armenia won the silver, and Nasrin Shazdeh-Ahmadi from
Tehran and Fatemeh Hamidi from Afghanistan jointly received the
bronze medal.
In the seventh weight, Khalajzadeh from Tehran stood on the highest
podium and Municipality’s Mahrouz Saei finished runner-up.
Just the duo competed in this weight category. Zare’ was named as
“Technical Player of the Games.”
The event was officially inaugurated in the presence of sports
officials and Majlis Speaker Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel in the
12,000-seater hall of Azadi Sports Complex in western Tehran Sunday.
Haddad-Adel vowed that Parliament will use all its power to boost
women’s sports.
The speaker added the Islamic Republic is determined to promote
sports associated with Islamic values among women. “We want to show
to the world that Muslim women can be active in sporting fields while
observing morals. We want to prove that the Islamic Republic can
develop women’s sports without making a copy of other nations’
programs since it has the capacity to promote sports among women and
observe the Islamic dress code at the same time.”
The ranking official noted that loyalty to the values is not
tantamount to struggle against other cultures but the Islamic
Republic is moving toward strengthening the Islamic entity.
He said the sporting event will help Muslim women befriend as the
message of sports is peace and friendship in the world.
Sports is a must for a healthy society, said the Majlis speaker
underlining that sports is very important to women, who are would-be
mothers.
Women’s Games is a major stride toward helping Muslim women gain
their status, said Haddad-Adel. The 2005 event is held in 2005, the
Year of Sports and Health, recalled the speaker and added, “The
Islamic Republic prides itself on holding the first edition of
Women’s Games.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress