Asian U18 Beach Volleyball Championships:
Iranian pair beats Japan to secure world spot
The Iranian pair of Amirreza Jamshidi and Amin Vakili secured qualification for the FIVB U18 World Beach Volleyball Championships in The Hague, Netherlands, later this year, thanks to a straight-set victory over Japan at the Asian U18 Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on Sunday.
Iranian Team A emerged victorious 21-18, 21-16 against Japan’s Rikuho Kashiwaki and Sota Sugiura in the men’s fifth-place playoff at the Uzbek capital’s Olympic Village to book the continent’s fourth berth for the world showpiece.
With two Australian teams advancing to the semifinals, and in line with FIVB regulations – which prohibit two teams from the same country participating in the World Championships – the Iranian team was given a second chance to qualify, despite relinquishing a one-set lead to lose 2-1 (18-21, 21-11, 15-10) to Kazakhstan’s Orazali Sagynysh and Agabek Alikhan in the quarterfinals. That defeat was a repeat of the setback the Iranian team suffered when the two sides met in the CAVA U18 Championship final in the Uzbek capital last week.
The victory over Japan helped Iran secure its place in the main draw of the World Championships, while the Japanese team will feature in the qualifying bracket.
The Iranian duo had topped Pool C in Tashkent with maximum points before defeating Kazakhstan’s Ilya Pavlov and Vladislav Shelekhov 2-0 (21-16, 21-11) in the round of 16.
Sina Al-e Yassin and Vahab Ownaq – bronze medalists at the CAVA event – represented the other Iranian pair in Tashkent, falling in back-to-back sets to Qatar’s Moussa Alkheer and Mubarak Musa in the round of 16.
The Australian team of Ryan Edgar and Thomas Turner defeated Sagynysh and Alikhan 2-0 (21-16, 21-13) in the final, with Alkheer and Musa settling for bronze courtesy of a straight-set win (21-19, 24-22) against Australia’s Lincoln Mowen and Hudson Symes earlier on Sunday.