Esmaeilnejad, Karimi ruled out as Iran confirms roster for World Championships
Italian head coach Roberto Piazza named Iran’s 14-man squad for the upcoming FIVB Volleyball World Championship – starting Friday in the Philippines.
The Asian powerhouse was dealt a massive blow ahead of its eighth appearance at the flagship international event as two key Iranian players are ruled out of the competition with injury.
Star opposite Amin Esmaeilnejad, who was Iran’s top scorer in the Volleyball Nations League preliminaries earlier in the summer, suffered a twisted ankle during a warmup victory over Qatar last Sunday and is expected to be sidelined for three to six weeks.
Iranian setter Mohammad-Javad Karimi will also miss the world event with a strained muscle in his leg.
Bardia Sa’adat received a late call-up by Piazza last week to replace Esmaeilnejad in the national team squad.
Sa’adat was also part of Iran’s VNL roster, contributing double figures in three outings – including a team-high 24 points during a five-set loss to Slovenia in Week 1 in Rio de Janeiro.
Iran will begin its campaign at the World Championship against Egypt in Pool B on September 14, and then faces another African test in Tunisia two days later, before taking on the host on Sept. 18.
The top two of the group will progress to round of 16.
Iran will be looking to build on a decent run in the Nations League, during which Piazza’s men won six out of 12 games to finish eighth in the preliminary table but ultimately missed out on a place in the quarterfinals, as China – second from bottom in the standings – automatically qualified as the host of the VNL Finals.
The following is the Iranian squad for the World Championship:
Setters: Arshia Behnejad, Ali Ramezani
Outside hitters: Morteza Sharifi, Amirhossein Esfandiar, Pouria Hosseinkhanzadeh, Ali Haqparast, Ehsan Daneshdoust
Middle Blockers: Mohammad Valizadeh, Yousef Kazemi, Isa Naseri
Opposite Spikers: Bardia Sa’adat, Ali Hajipour
Liberos: Arman Salehi, Mohammadreza Hazratpour.