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Sitting Volleyball World Championships:
Iran men sweep Croatia to advance to last eight
Iran’s women’s team also progressed to the quarterfinals, recovering from a setback against the host on the preceding day to beat Germany 3-0 (25-16, 25-17, 25-14) in the first knockout round.
Masoud Emami led the scoring for Iran men with 10 points, including two aces, while Morteza Mehrzad, Meisam Alipour, and Mahdi Babadi added nine points apiece as the two-time defending champion registered its fourth consecutive victory of the tournament.
Iran will take on the United States, which defeated Canada in straight sets earlier in the day, in the men’s last eight today.
Iran opened its Pool D campaign with a come-from-behind 3-1 victory (23-25, 25-13, 25-10, 25-15) over Poland.
It then rallied past familiar rival Bosnia and Herzegovina in four sets (24-26, 25-21, 25-22, 25-21) in a repeat of the previous two world championship finals, as well as the gold-medal match at the Paris 2024 Paralympics, all of which Iran won.
A comfortable 3-0 victory (25-14, 25-16, 25-7) over Japan on Monday secured top spot in the group.
As if Iran needed extra motivation in its pursuit of a record-extending ninth world title in 14 editions, the men’s and women’s champions in Hangzhou will both earn direct qualification for the Los Angeles 2028 Paralympic Games.