The 17-year-old Beheshti lifted 113kg in the snatch to sit fourth after the opening discipline on Tuesday.

She then missed her opening clean and jerk at 140kg before successfully clearing 146kg with her second attempt, taking her total to 259kg.

The result secured third place after Turkmenistan’s Anamjan Rustamova failed with her final attempt.

China’s Wu Yan took gold with a 273kg total, while Ukrainian world champion Alina Marushchak, competing under the Bahrain flag, claimed silver with 272kg.

Beheshti was visibly emotional after the competition and apologized to the Iranian people for not being able to secure a higher medal.

Her bronze came after an outstanding run at the Asian Youth and Junior Championships in Tashkent last month, where she won six gold medals across the youth and junior competitions, including a 261kg total in the junior 86kg category.

Her coach, Elham Hosseini, said Beheshti had not fully recovered from the Tashkent competition only a few weeks earlier, which affected her consistency, but stressed that the teenager fought hard for the podium.

Hosseini also highlighted the experience gap between Beheshti and many of her rivals, noting that the Iranian lifter is still a teenager competing against athletes with years of international experience and higher established totals.

“She is one of the youngest weightlifters in these competitions and certainly still has a lot of room to improve,” Hosseini said, adding that the bronze medal would provide valuable experience for Beheshti’s development.

The medal gave Iran its second women’s weightlifting medal at the Asian Games, after Reyhaneh Karimi had earlier won bronze in the women’s 77kg category, securing Iran’s first-ever Asian Games medal in women’s weightlifting.

Meanwhile, Ali Davoodi delivered a gold-medal performance in the men’s 110kg+ category after producing a commanding display on the platform alongside lifters from Bahrain, Iraq, South Korea and Chinese Taipei.

Davoodi, who won silver at the previous Asian Games, opened his snatch campaign with a successful 197kg lift.

He followed it with successful attempts at 202kg and 206kg, finishing the snatch with a 206kg mark.

The Iranian then successfully lifted 242kg in his opening clean and jerk attempt before clearing 260kg with his second attempt.

His 466kg total secured the gold medal and added another title to Iran’s medal haul in Nagoya.

The results left Iran eighth in the medals table with eight gold, 15 silver and 11 bronze medals.

The Aichi-Nagoya Games are being held from September 19 to October 4 across venues in Japan, with around 17,000 athletes and officials from 45 countries and regions competing in 43 sports.

Iran’s delegation, named “Minab Angels” — a tribute to the victims of the US-Israeli attack on Shajareh Tayyebe Elementary School in Minab on February 28 — is competing at the Games with 305 athletes across 38 sports.