Volleyball Nations League:
Short-handed Iran undone by Olympic champion France
Iran’s slender chances of progressing to the last-eight round of the Volleyball Nations League virtually ended after a straight-set loss (25-18, 25-22, 25-19) to France in Anaheim, California, on Tuesday.
A seventh defeats in nine outings – followed by the Netherlands’ 3-1 win against Canada later in the day – means Iran will now have to win its remaining fixtures and hope other results go their way to qualify for VNL Finals, though it will more likely be a fight for reputation and consolation in the next three games for the Asian powerhouse, which made it to the quarterfinals last year.
Iran will take on Argentina and Bulgaria before concluding the preliminary round against Cuba on Sunday.
It was always going to be a daunting task against the reigning Olympic champion for Iran, which stepped on the court at the Anaheim Convention Center without head coach Behrouz Ataei as well as prolific opposite Amin Esmaeilnejad, starting setter Mohammad-Taher Vadi, and Arman Salehi after all four were denied an entry visa by the US Embassy in Ankara.
The controversial decision convinced the international governing body of the sport, the FIVB, to freeze Iran’s points in the Men’s World Ranking – which will play a decisive part in the qualification for next year’s Paris Olympics – during Week 3.
Iran’s depleted side still managed to go toe-to-toe with the defending champion until the middle stages of every set but again some poor reception and individual errors, coupled with Frenchmen’s fine serving, cost the Asian side a fourth consecutive defeat against the European heavyweight.
With the French star man Earvin N’Gapeth ruled out of the final week with a knee injury, outside hitter Timothée Carle stole the show with a game-high 17 points – including three aces – while Boyer Stephen contributed 11.
Morteza Sharifi topped the scoring for Iran with eight points, with team captain Seyyed Mohammad Mousavi and Amirhossein Esfandiar chipping in seven apiece.
“We gave it our all to win the game but the France’s high experience eventually prevailed,” said Iranian Esfandiar, who also rued the absence of several members of the team and coaching staff.
“The team was under a lot of pressure throughout the game as we only had two coaches on the bench.”
Iranian assistant coach Alireza Tolou-Kian echoed Esfandiar’s words, saying: “It was realty difficult to be without the head coach and the analyst today. It’s literally impossible to play and coach with a naked eye in modern-day volleyball.”
Elsewhere on the first day of the final week, Japan extended its winning streak to nine games after coming from behind twice to beat China in a five-set thriller (24-26, 25-23, 25-21, 25-23, 15-12) in Pasay, the Philippines, and stay atop the table.
Reigning world champion Italy also rallied to come out on top against Brazil in four sets (23-25, 25-20, 25-15, 25-21) for a sixth victory in the preliminary round, while Argentina bounced back from a five-set defeat against Japan to beat Serbia 3-1 (19-25, 25-16, 25-19, 25-18).
The top seven of the 16-team will join host Poland in the VNL Finals – starting July 16 in Gdansk.