AVC Men’s Champions League:
Foolad rallies past Shanghai Bright to progress to last four
Iranian champion Foolad Sirjan came from behind to beat Shanghai Bright of China 3-1 (24-26, 25-21, 28-26, 25-23) and advance to the semifinals at the rebranded AVC Men’s Volleyball Champions League in Kyoto, Japan.
Iran international outside-hitter Amirhossein Esfandiar contributed with a game-high 25 points for Behrouz Ataei’s side, with opposite-spiker Ali Hajipour chipping in 20.
Cuban middle-blocker Javier Concepcion and Alireza Abdolhamidi also finished in double figures for Foolad, registering 10 points apiece, while French superstar Earvin Ngapeth had a quiet day with four points.
Chinese Pengzhi Wu was the top scorer for Shanghai Bright with 20 points, followed by Cong Tian (15) and Bohan Wang (12).
A bronze medalist in last December’s Club World Championship in Brazil, Foolad was caught off-guard in the first set, but Hajipour and Esfandiar scored a combined 13 points in the second set to tie the game at 1-1.
The pivotal point of the contest came in the closing stages of the third set, when Ataei’s men overcame a 24-20 deficit to win 28-26, before sealing the hard-fought victory in the fourth set.
Chasing a third Asian title four years, Foolad got off to a shaky start in the competition, laboring to a 3-2 win against Thailand’s Nakhon Ratchasima QminC in their Pool C opener, and then went on to beat Taichung Bank of the Chinese Taipei to progress to the quarterfinals as the group winner.