Asian Beach Games:
Iranians through in beach volleyball, set up China, Japan tests
The two Iranian pairs progressed to the knockout stage of the men’s beach volleyball event at the Asian Beach Games in Sanya, China, setting up last-16 dates with duos from the host nation and Japan today.
Alireza Aqajani and Abbas Pourasgari defeated Syria’s Orwa Alsakka and Kutiba Albirini in comfortable fashion, winning in straight sets (21-8, 21-9) on Saturday to finish atop Pool G with a clean sweep of four victories.
Standing between the Iranian duo and a quarterfinal spot today will be Japan’s Kosuke Fukushima and Nassim Malki, who finished runner-up in Pool H with three wins from four outings.
In Pool B, meanwhile, the top spot decider saw Abolhassan Khakizadeh and Amirali Qalenovi suffer a 2-1 setback (21-11, 21-23, 15-10) against the formidable Qatari pair of Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan – bronze medalists at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics – and settle for runner-up spot with two wins from three games.
Khakizadeh and Qalenovi will face China’s Wang Yanwei and Wu Jiaxin – Pool A winners with maximum points – today, with the winner taking on Lebanese or Kazakh pairs in the quarterfinals.
Beach soccer dominance
Elsewhere in the multi-sport event, Iran continued its emphatic start to its men’s beach soccer campaign with a 13-1 win over Thailand on Saturday.
Mohammadali Nazarzadeh and Mohammadali Mokhtari each scored a hat-trick, with Mohammad Ma’soumizadeh and Davoud Shokri adding two goals apiece, while Seyyed Mohammad Dastan, Seyyed Mahdi Mirjalili, and Movahed Mohammadpour were also on the scoresheet for Ali Naderi’s side.
A second successive victory in Group B – following the opening-day 5-2 win against the United Arab Emirates – saw Iran stand atop the table, thanks to a superior goal difference over Saudi Arabia, and secure a place in Monday’s semifinals.
The top spot in the group will still be on the line when Iran and Saudi Arabia go head-to-head at the Sanya Bay Yuhai Club Venue today.
3x3 basketball
In the men’s 3x3 basketball, Iran got off to a winning start against Macau before falling to the host in Group A on Saturday.
Piter Girgoorian chipped in a game-high nine points, with Mohammadmahdi Rahimi adding seven to lead Iran to a 21-9 victory in its opener.
Rahimi then delivered a five-point contribution later in the day, but Iran lost 14-13 to China to sit second in the group table ahead of today’s crunch test against the Philippines, which defeated both China and Macau by similar 21-18 scorelines.
The top two from each of the four groups will advance to Tuesday’s quarterfinals.
Iran is being represented by 57 athletes across 10 sports, including beach wrestling, beach volleyball, beach handball, beach soccer, jiu-jitsu, beach kabaddi, athletics, 3x3 basketball, sport climbing, and water polo at the sixth edition of the multi-sport event, which runs through Thursday.