Iraqi Olympic Committee Rewards Medalists of Asian Games, Sculler Hamarasheid Calls for “More Interest”

Iraqi Olympic Committee has held a gathering in honour of the country’s three medalists of the Asian Games: a silver runner, a bronze wrestler, and a bronze rower. The event of Monday, 13 December has been covered by Iraqi media outlets and reported on the Committee’s website.

The 16th Asian Games were hosted by Guangzhou, China on 12-27 November this year.

Current (interim) flag of Iraq. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

It has been announced that the Iraqi Olympic Committee handed over a financial reward worth 15 million Iraqi dinars (an equivalent of approximately 12,800 US dollars) to the silver medalist, his coach, and his sport federation each. The reward for the bronze medalists with their coaches and federations was 10 million Iraqi dinars (approximately 8,500 US dollars) to each.

China Dominates Rowing at Asian Games

The Asian Games in Guangzhou, China saw final races in 14 rowing events on 18 and 19 November. The host country has earned most medals (10 gold medals), followed by Japan (2 gold, 2 silver, and 1 bronze medal), India (1-3-1), Iran (1-0-1), South Korea (0-3-3), Vietnam (0-2-0), Uzbekistan (0-1-4), Hong Kong (0-1-1), Kazakhstan (0-1-1), Chinese Taipei (i.e. Taiwan; 0-1-0), Iraq (0-0-1), and Thailand (0-0-1). The medal standings and results have been posted on the official website of the Asian Games and selectively re-published by some media outlets around the world.

Screenshot from the official website of the Asian Games.

As obvious from the results, rowers competed on the standard two kilometres’ distance. Men’s lightweight single saw the victory of Iran’s under-23 world champion, Mohsen Shadi Naghadeh (Persian: محسن شادی نقده) ahead of Japan’s Olympian and the world champion of 2000 in lightweight quad, Daisaku Takeda (Japanese: 武田 大作). The Iranian finished in a remarkable 6:55.62 while the Japanese’s time was 7:00.43.