Asian Beach Games:
Iranian pair into beach volleyball final
The Iranian duo of Abolhassan Khakizadeh and Amirali Qalenoei secured a place in the men’s beach volleyball final at the Asian Beach Games on Tuesday, thanks to a 2-1 victory over the Omani pair in Sanya, China.
The Iranian team won the first set 21-17 before Mazin Al Hashimi and Hood Rashid Al Jalaboubi – who had beaten Iran’s Alireza Aghajani and Abbas Pourasgari in the quarterfinals – leveled the match with a 21-15 win in the second. The decisive set saw Khakizadeh and Qalenoei prevail 15-13, marking the Iranian pair’s fifth victory in six outings at the Tianya Haijiao venue.
“The conditions in today’s semifinal were truly difficult. We faced a very strong Oman team in rainy weather. Yesterday, the Omanis eliminated another Iranian team – one of Asia’s best – and I’m pleased that we were able to avenge that loss and advance to the final,” Qalenoei said after the last-four victory.
“It was a high-pressure match. We managed to beat them in the first set, but in the second set, Oman, having nothing to lose, played with great strength to win. In the third set, although we stayed neck and neck until 12 points, thank God, thanks to our teamwork, we managed to emerge victorious,” the Iranian added.
Standing between the Iranian duo and the gold medal will be the high-profile pair of Cherif Samba and Ahmed Janko – a rematch of their Pool B encounter, which the Qatari duo won.
Bronze medalists at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Samba and Janko continued their perfect run in Sanya with a straight-set victory over Thailand’s Wachirawit Muadpha and Netitorn Muneekul in the other semifinal later on Tuesday.
Iran will also compete for gold in the men’s beach soccer final on Wednesday after hammering Palestine 9-1 in the semifinals late Monday.
Mohammadali Mokhtari scored a hat-trick, with Mohammad Masoumizadeh and Mahdi Shirmohammadi adding doubles, while Movahed Mohammadpour and Davoud Shokri were also on the scoresheet for Ali Naderi’s side, which claimed a fourth successive victory at the Sanya Bay Yuhai Club venue.
Oman edged out Saudi Arabia 5-4 in extra time to set up a final date with Iran.
Represented by 57 athletes across 10 sports, the Iranian delegation has bagged two gold medals over eight days of action at the sixth edition of the multi-sport event, which will conclude with the closing ceremony on Thursday.
Hassan Ajami opened Iran’s account by winning gold in the men’s shot put on Sunday, before the men’s kabaddi team stunned India 44-31 to claim the top prize on Monday.