Iran misses out on Olympic beach volleyball berth
The Iranian beach volleyball failed to qualify for the Paris Olympics in July after back-to-back semifinal defeats against the host in the AVC Beach Volleyball Continental Cup in Ningbo, China.
Stepping into the eight-team event – serving as the qualifiers for the sole Asian spot in July’s Games – as the Central Asian champions, the two Iranian teams headed into Saturday’s last-four clashes fresh from a 2-0 win against Japan in the quarterfinals on the preceding day.
However, the Iranian Team 1, comprising Abbas Pourasgari and Alireza Aqajani suffered a straight-set defeat (21-18, 21-15) against Ha Likejiang and Wu Jiaxin, while Abolhamed Mirzzali and Sina Shoukati fell short against Wang Yanwei and Li Jie 23-21 and 21-17 as Iran failed to reach the final showpiece.
The Asian Olympic berth will be on the line today when China takes on Australia, which defeated Indonesia in Saturday’s double-header.