Volleyball Nations League:
Iran given injury boost ahead of vital Week 3
Iran head coach Roberto Piazza has received good news from his medical staff, as outside-hitter Morteza Sharifi will be fit to feature in the third and the final week of the preliminaries at the Volleyball Nations League.
The outside hitter suffered an ankle injury in the closing stages of a 3-1 victory over Argentina last Friday and was ruled out the final two games in Week 2 against Germany and the Netherlands.
“I had a calf strain against Serbia but still managed to play until the end of the game. Then against Argentina the next day, I twisted my ankle and I thought it might be broken as the pain was so intense,” Sharifi said of the incident.
Iranian team doctor Ali Haddadi, however, rejected a serious injury setback for Sharifi on Monday, saying: “He no longer feels any pain in his ankle and is continuing with his recovery process. He will return to team training in a few days and I am confident he will be available for the third week.”
Sharifi has contributed 67 points – including a team-high 14 against 14 – across eight rounds of preliminary fixtures for Iran at this year’s tournament.
Iranian setters Javad Karimi and Arshia Behnejad, as well as Issa Naseri have also been dealing with injury problems throughout the tournament but Haddadi said all three will be fit for the remainder of the campaign.
Iran is 10th in the 18-team table with a 4-4 record before the third week gets underway in Gdansk, Poland, on July 16.
Piazza’s men will return to action against European powerhouse Poland – second in the table with six wins – followed by an all-Asian encounter against China.
Iran will square off against reigning Olympic and VNL champion France on July 19, before facing Bulgaria the following day at the Ergo Arena.
The top seven of preliminary table will be joined by host China at the VNL Finals – starting with last-eight round in Ningbo on July 30.
Looking to progress to the Finals for the first time since 2022, Iran got off to a slow start in the competition under the new Italian head coach, suffering successive defeats against Brazil (3-0), USA (3-2), and Slovenia (3-2), before salvaging a five-set win against Ukraine in the final Week 1 game in Rio de Janeiro.
The Asian powerhouse, however, delivered much-improved displays in the second week of action, defeating Serbia in four sets in Belgrade, before claiming victories against Argentina and the Netherlands (3-2) either side of a 3-1 loss to Germany.
Iranian Pouria Hosseinkhanzadeh has been the joint-best server in the preliminary round – alongside German opposite Filip John – with 15 aces.
The 21-year-old outside-hitter is second in the scoring chart for the country with 96 points, following opposite-spiker Amin Esmaeilnejad, who has chipped in 100 points.