Iran's Reza Alipour Shenazandifard waves after winning the men's speed climbing title at the Hangzhou Asian Games on Oct. 3, 2023. (Xinhua/Yang Guanyu)
Iran's Reza Alipour Shenazandifard defied the odds to retain the men's speed climbing crown, edging Chinese favorite Long Jinbao into second place.
HANGZHOU, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Reza Alipour Shenazandifard successfully defended his Asian Games title in the men's speed climbing, while Desak Made Rita Kusuma Dewi grabbed the women's speed gold for Indonesia on the opening day of sport climbing events at the Hangzhou Asiad.
Five years ago in Jakarta, Shenazandifard defeated China's Zhong Qixin to claim the first ever Asian Games gold in men's speed climbing.
The 29-year-old Iranian arrived in Hangzhou as an underdog, with world record holder Veddriq Leonardo, world championships runner-up Long Jinbao of China and his fellow teammate Wu Peng, a World Cup winner, being considered as odds-on favorites for the gold.
But Shenazandifard, who has barely made a podium finish on the international stage since 2018, showed stability with zero errors throughout the competition on Tuesday.
From the qualification to the big final, the Iranian clocked 5.18s, 5.28s, 5.16s, 5.16s and 5.30s. He stunned Leonardo who slipped on the wall in the semifinal, and took advantage of Long's fault in the big final to seal the gold.
China's Long Jinbao (R) in action during the men's speed climbing final. (Xinhua/Yang Guanyu)
"For five years I had been training hard everyday. I lost, lost, lost, but still trained from morning to night. I sometimes cried alone at night, but I never give up," said an emotional Shenazandifard.
The veteran also expressed his respect for Zhong, the coach of Chinese team.
"Brother Qixin, he is a legend to me, he is a brother," said the defending champion.
Leonardo settled for a bronze after edging out Wu with 4.95 seconds.
In the women's final, newly-crowned world champion Dewi met Deng Lijuan of China, the Asian record holder. The Indonesian won in a record-breaking 6.36 seconds ahead of Deng, whose 6.43 seconds also surpassed her previous record of 6.47.
"I want to thank my coach for helping me win the medal," said the 22-year-old Dewi. "I think the Chinese girls are also outstanding. We have competed with them many times, sometimes they won, and sometimes we won. Today I did it better," she added.
Dewi's compatriot Rajiah Sallsabillah bagged the bronze after outrunning Niu Di of China in 6.87 seconds. ■
