Volleyball Nations League:
Iran ends dreadful campaign with Germany defeat
A horrible Volleyball Nations League campaign came to an end for Iran with a straight-set loss (25-20, 25-23, 25-20) to Germany in Manila, Philippines, on Sunday.
A 10th defeat in 12 outings meant Iran finished second from bottom in the 16-team table of the preliminary round – a lowest-ever finish for the team that had reached the VNL Finals twice since the competition was first introduced in 2018.
Outside-hitter Moritz Karlitzek contributed with a game-high 21 points for the Germans, while opposite spiker Amin Esmaeilnejad chipped in 19 for Iran – followed by Pouria Hossein-Khanzadeh, whose quiet night yielded 10 points.
“We put our all into the game as we desperately wanted to finish with a victory. I just hope the Iranian people will still give us their support so that we can make amends for the setback next year,” Hossein-Khanzadeh, who signed for Italian giant Lube on Saturday, said after the match.
Stepping into the event, Iran was hopping to embark on a new era under Brazilian coach Mauricio Motta Paes and put in a last-ditch effort to secure a place in July’s Paris Olympics through the FIVB Ranking by the end of the preliminary round.
However, the Brazilian’s time was cut short after seven successive defeats for what was described by the Iranian federation as the 61-year-old’s failure in “unleashing the players’ potentials”, with the decision aimed at protecting “the international reputation of the Iranian volleyball.”
Paes’s No. 2 Payman Akbari took over from the Brazilian but his appointment did little to change the team’s fortunes, though Iran still managed a couple of consolation victories over USA and the Netherlands – both in five sets – in Week 3.