Volleyball Nations League: Iran facing further US visa blows ahead of Week 3
Iran could be without head coach Behrouz Ataei in Week 3 of the Volleyball Nations League in Anaheim, California, as the US Embassy in Ankara is yet to issue an entry visa for several members of the team.
However, Mohammadreza Davarzani, the chairman of the Iranian Volleyball Federation, remained positive that the visa process for Ataei and two of his players – Mohammad Valizadeh and Shahrouz Homayounfarmanesh – will be complete by Monday.
Iran will begin its campaign in Anaheim with a game against Tokyo Olympic gold medalist France on Tuesday before taking on Bulgaria, Argentina, and Cuba.
The reigning Asian champion has already been dealt a huge blow for the final week of the preliminary round as prolific opposite Amin Esmaeilnejad and starting setter Mohammad-Taher Vadi plus Arman Salehi will miss the four matches due to the US visa denial.
Davarzani ruled out Iran’s withdrawal from the remainder of this year’s VNL as the country could be facing “serious consequences” in the future international events.
The international governing body of the sport, the FIVB, announced last week that Iran’s results in Week 3 will not affect the team’s status in the World Men’s Ranking – a decisive factor in the qualification process for next year’s Paris Olympics.
Iran enters the final week in 11th place of the 16-team table – courtesy of a couple of victories over China and Germany and six defeats against Japan, Poland, Slovenia, Italy, USA, and the Netherlands – and there will be no room for further slip in the remaining fixtures if Ataei’s team is to book a place in the quarterfinals for a second year running.
Top seven teams of the table will join host Poland in the VNL Finals – starting with the last-eight round in Gdansk on July 19.
The surprise package of the event Japan tops the table thanks to a perfect run of eight victories, with USA, Brazil, Slovenia, Poland, Argentina, Italy, and the Netherlands following the Asian powerhouse.