Volleyball U17 World Championship:
Iran routs Brazil for consolation after last-eight heartbreak
Iran is on course for a fifth-place finish in the FIVB U17 World Championship after an emphatic victory over Brazil in Sofia, Bulgaria, on Friday.
Having suffered a five-set defeat against Italy in the quarterfinals on the preceding night, Arash Sadeqiani’s boys bounced back in style against the South American side, coming victorious in straight sets (25-9, 27-25, 25-15).
Outside-hitter Kamyab Abdollahifar chipped in a game-high 16 points for Iran, with middle-blocker Armin Asiaei contributing with 15 – including two aces.
“It was really tough for these young players to recover mentally in such a short time after a devastating loss to Italy, so they deserve credit for their performance today. Brazil has also been a decent team at this tournament and even led the Chinese Taipei by four points at one stage in the fifth set of their quarterfinal game,” Sadeqiani said.
This was a fourth victory for Iran in Bulgaria.
Iran defeated Libya and Tunisia in three sets but a controversial 3-2 loss to Egypt saw the Asian head into last 16 as the Pool B runner-up.
Iran then came out on top against Chile 3-0 (25-14, 25-16, 25,12) before Italy came from behind twice to beat Sadeqiani’s side 20-25, 25-18, 21-25, 27-25, 15-9.