ISF U15 World School Volleyball Championship:
Iran rallies past Chinese Taipei to defend boys’ title
Iran successfully defended its boys’ title at the ISF U15 World School Volleyball Championship, defeating Chinese Taipei 3-1 in the final in Shangluo, China.
The Iranian boys got off to a slow start in Friday’s showdown, suffering a 25-15 loss in the opening set before bouncing back to win the next three sets 25-18, 25-22, and 25-17.
Iran opened its campaign with a 2-0 victory over Nigeria in a best-of-two-sets contest, followed by a 2-1 triumph over China 2, and then saw off Saudi Arabia in straight sets last Monday to top Pool B with seven points and advance to the quarterfinals.
A straight-sets win (25–17, 25–15) against the host nation sent Iran into the semifinals, where Arash Sadeqiani’s team came from behind to beat India 3–1 (20-25, 25-15, 25-13, 25-23) to secure a place in the final.
Aydian Poozesh, Farham Baqeri, Shahdad Alizadeh, Radan Salehi, Mobin Alizadeh, Amirreza Faramarzi, Parsa Maqsoudi, Arouzhan Namazi, Yazdan Abdi, Arash Asharafi, Maziar Fallah, Yassin Asadizadeh, Akam Enbrahimnejad, and Sina Hazrati represented Iran in the boys’ competition in Shangluo.
In the girls’ competition, meanwhile, Iran secured four successive 2–0 victories over India 1, Uganda 2, Bulgaria, and Chile to top Pool D with 12 points, but relinquished a one-set lead in a 2–1 (26-28, 25-22, 15-13) quarterfinal defeat to Brazil.