Iran Fails to Advance to Asian U-18 Volleyball Championship Final
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran lost to Japan 3-1 (25-20, 25-22, 25-27, 25-16) and could not advance to the 12th Asian Men’s U-18 Volleyball Championship final in Tabriz’s Poursharifi Gymnasium on Thursday.
Now the Japanese team is going to set up a final rematch with Korea.
Japan beat Korea in straight sets in the final showdown of the previous edition to eventually reign supreme, but already went down 1-3 to the same rivals in the Pool A preliminaries here earlier.
Bardia Saadat was the best scorer of Iran, adding 20 points to his tally. However, his determined effort alone was not enough to help the host side win.
Mizumachi Taito scored a match-high 26 points for Japan mostly on spikes.
“We were so lucky that we beat current world U-19 champion Iran. The match was high quality and both teams performed well,” Japan head coach Hiroshi Honda commented after the match.
“In terms of the new format of the championship, I think it’s a bit tense but every team faces the same situation,” he added.
Iran will face Chinese Taipei for third place.
