Iran takes sixth place at the 2026 Asian Games in Nagoya, Aichi

The national team of Uzbekistan has concluded its participation in the XX Asian Summer Games, held in Nagoya city and Aichi prefecture, Japan. Athletes from Uzbekistan won 21 gold, 25 silver, and 24 bronze medals, totaling 70 awards. Thanks to this, Uzbekistan secured fifth place in the overall medal standings, maintaining the same position as in the previous Games in Hangzhou.

In the race for gold medals, Uzbekistan tied with India, as both countries won 21 titles. However, India ranked fourth due to a higher number of silver medals—27 compared to Uzbekistan's 25. China led the overall standings with 169 gold medals and 341 medals in total. It was followed by the host country Japan with 83 gold and 269 medals, and the Republic of Korea with 39 gold and 150 medals.

Uzbek athletes won medals in 19 sports, winning gold in 13 of them. Quresh once again became the main source of gold medals, bringing four victories and two bronze awards, matching the results from Hangzhou. In athletics, three gold medals and one bronze were obtained.

Boxers and judokas individually won two gold medals each. The Uzbek boxing team received seven medals: two gold, one silver, and four bronze. Judokas also won seven medals, including two gold, two silver, and three bronze.

The two rowing disciplines—canoe and kayak rowing—brought the highest total number of medals, collecting nine medals (two gold, six silver, and one bronze), as did rowing, which also brought nine medals (one gold, six silver, and two bronze).

In wrestling, taekwondo, karate, artistic and rhythmic gymnastics, shooting, and weightlifting, each discipline secured one gold medal. Wrestlers also won three silver and one bronze medal. The taekwondo team added two silver and one bronze.

In sports where no gold medals were won but other prizes were awarded, Uzbekistan participated in fencing, winning one silver and two bronze medals; in mixed martial arts—two silver and one bronze; and in Wushu—one silver and two bronze. Track cycling, tennis, and esports brought one bronze medal each.

At the 2022 Asian Games, which were postponed due to the pandemic and held in Hangzhou in autumn 2023, Uzbekistan won 22 gold, 18 silver, and 31 bronze medals, totaling 71 medals. At that time, the team also finished fifth. Thus, the overall medal tally decreased by one medal, and the number of gold medals decreased by one. The medal structure changed: there were seven more silver medals and seven fewer bronze medals.

In several disciplines, Uzbekistan reached the podium for the first time at these Games. Gold medals were won in artistic gymnastics, where Uzbekistan had not won any medals in Hangzhou previously, as well as in shooting and weightlifting, where Uzbek athletes had only won silver and bronze two years ago. Mixed martial arts and esports also appeared in Uzbekistan's medal count for the first time.

The total number of medals increased in rowing and canoe and kayak rowing. However, rowing brought fewer gold medals—one compared to two in Hangzhou. Boxers won more medals than in the previous Games—seven compared to five, but their number of victories decreased from three to two. Judo and rhythmic gymnastics each brought one less gold medal. Uzbekistan did not win gold in fencing or track cycling this time, after receiving one title in each sport in Hangzhou. Furthermore, there were no medals in chess and football, although they together brought five medals in the previous Games.

Uzbekistan once again became the best country in Central Asia in the overall medal count. It secured 21 out of 36 gold medals won by countries in the region and 70 out of 186 medals in total. Kazakhstan ranked eighth with 12 gold, 24 silver, and 48 bronze medals. In terms of total medals, Kazakhstan again surpassed Uzbekistan, scoring 84, although more than half of its medals were bronze. Compared to Hangzhou, Kazakhstan moved up from 11th to 8th place and added two gold medals.

Tajikistan finished in 22nd place with two gold, five silver, and nine bronze medals. Its total medal tally more than doubled, increasing from seven to sixteen. Kyrgyzstan ranked 26th with one gold, three silver, and 10 bronze medals, totaling 14. At the Hangzhou Games, the Kyrgyz team won four gold medals and placed 18th. Turkmenistan finished 31st with two silver medals. Two years ago, the Turkmen team won seven medals.

Amir Ali Azarpiran from Iran won a gold medal at the Asian Games-2026, which became Iran's eighteenth gold award in these competitions. The victory took place on Saturday.

In the final match of the men's wrestling division at 97 kg, Azarpiran defeated Sherzod Poyonov from Uzbekistan with a score of 10:0.

Before reaching the final, Azarpiran overcame several opponents: he beat Muhammad Gulzar from Pakistan, as well as Shatlyk Khemeliyev from Turkmenistan and Arash Yoshida from Japan.

As a result of this match, Dipak Punia from India and Arash Yoshida won bronze medals.

Twenty-two Iranian students participated in the 48th WorldSkills competition, demonstrating their practical skills on the international stage and winning seven medals for excellence.

The WorldSkills Competition is the largest global contest of professional skills, bringing together youth, industry representatives, educational institutions, and government officials from around the world to promote technical and vocational education.

This year's competition took place from September 22 to 27 in Shanghai, China, gathering 1400 top young specialists from 70 countries and regions to compete in 64 different professional fields. Participants included Mehrhan Rasolzadeh, who placed fourth in mobile application development; Hassan Safari and Amir-Hossein Zibai, who placed fourth in cybersecurity; Mohammad-Saleh Borhani Gilvai, who placed eighth in cloud computing; as well as Mohammad-Amin Arab-Aminabadi and Amir-Reza Beyk-Mohammaddlou, who placed 12th in IT network administration and graphic design technology, respectively. Taha Shameli and Sajjad Safari-Ghiasabad placed 15th in web technologies and mechanical CAD design.

WorldSkills is held every two years, providing young professionals with the opportunity to participate in an international competition, measure, and demonstrate their competencies. Participants are selected after thousands of local, regional, and national competitions, and their mastery sets the standard for learning systems, educators, and industries worldwide.

The next WorldSkills competition, the 49th, is scheduled for 2028 in Aichi, Japan.

Recent Achievements

Thirteen Iranian students under the age of 12 demonstrated their scientific, technical abilities, and creativity by taking second and third places in various leagues of RobotChallenge 2026, which was held in Beijing, China. RobotChallenge, one of the world's largest artificial intelligence-based robotics championships, annually gathers participants from around the world competing with autonomous robots they have built themselves.

The event started on August 8 and attracted participants from about 48 countries, including China, Russia, Romania, Iran, Japan, Germany, and South Korea. Iranian students secured second place in the technical report league, third place in the 'Senior Robot Rugby' category, and in the 'Innovation' nomination. These results highlight the capability and qualification of Iranian students in robot construction and operation, design process, problem-solving, and technical presentation effectiveness.

At the Rayan 2025 International Artificial Intelligence and Programming Competition, known as the World Finals, Iranian students showed strong results in both the AI and programming sections. Ali Safari took first place in the programming section, while China won second and third places, followed by India, Vietnam, Armenia, Serbia, and Pakistan.

In the AI section, Iranian teams—Pileh, AI Guardians of Trust, AIUoK, red-serotenin, Persistence, and GGWP—placed from first to seventh. The final round of the Rayan competition took place on Friday at Sharif University of Technology in Tehran, with delegations from 25 countries participating. The event was supported by the Vice Presidency for Science, Technology, and Knowledge-Based Economy and began on November 25, attracting hundreds of participants from the USA, Russia, China, India, Italy, Chile, Australia, Armenia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Afghanistan, Ukraine, Taiwan, Romania, Singapore, Poland, Slovakia, Vietnam, Serbia, Argentina, Colombia, Kazakhstan, and Ethiopia, as well as the host country, Iran.

Sixty Iranian and foreign participants took part in the individual sectional programming, independently solving nine complex algorithmic problems over three to four hours. The scientific competition aimed to advance knowledge, develop international cooperation, and establish scientific authority in the field of AI and programming. Other goals of the competition included improving algorithmic thinking, problem-solving skills, teamwork, developing innovative ideas, starting new businesses, and expanding AI engineering and programming.

At the International Science and Invention Fair (ISIF) 2025, Iranian students received three gold medals and a special award, becoming among the world's leading innovators. This competition, organized by the Indonesian Young Scientists Association (IYSA), took place in Bali from November 12 to 15. Participants competed in various fields, including biotechnology, educational technology, artificial intelligence, mathematics, engineering, chemistry, and nanotechnology.

Raman Nafarieh won a gold medal and a special award in biotechnology. A team consisting of Radin Abbasi and Sama Rashidi received a gold medal in the engineering field. Furthermore, Matin Hayati won a gold medal in educational technology and artificial intelligence. ISIF 2025 gathered a total of 800 teams from 24 countries, including China, the USA, Mexico, South Korea, Taiwan, Canada, Turkey, Luxembourg, Indonesia, and Vietnam.