ROME -- Iran's national squad of blind judokas won the bronze medal of the 2002 World Judo Championships of the International Blind Sports Association (IBSA) in Ostia, suburbs of Rome, Sunday, IRNA reported.

The seven-member Iranian squad had stormed into the quarterfinals of the championships by beating Spain and China.

However, they failed to make it to the finals by losing to Japan.

They later defeated Russia 4-1 to jointly win the bronze medal of the competitions with Cuba, and for the first time ranked among the four top teams of the world.

Also in individual competitions, Hani Assakere in the 73kg category, and Asghar Siah-Kamarei in the 81kg respectively won the gold and silver medals of the competitions.

Earlier, Seyed Ebrahim Gholami in the 90kg weight class and Reza Arshad Hokmabadi in the 100 weight class had both ranked fifth in the championships.