Asian Boys’ U18 Volleyball Championship:
Iran edges host China in five-set thriller to advance to final
Iran came from behind to beat host China 3-2 (18-25, 25-14, 25-21, 23-25, 15-11) on Friday and secure a place in Saturday’s final at the AVC Boys’ U18 Volleyball Championship in Haikou.
Abolfazl Pasha-Amiri led the scoring for Iran with 20 points as the team finished the match with 106 points, including 52 from attacks, 11 blocks and six aces, while capitalizing on 37 points from Chinese errors to avenge its five-set defeat to the host in the 2024 final in Manama.
Playing in front of a vocal home crowd at the Haikou Wuyuan River Gymnasium, head coach Abdolreza Alizadeh’s youthful side—most of whom are competing in their first international tournament—overcame a hostile atmosphere to extend its unbeaten run and remain on course for a record-extending eighth continental title, which would be its first since 2014.
Iran has also claimed three silver medals (2003, 2022 and 2024) and one bronze (2018) in the previous 14 editions of the tournament.
Iran completed a clean sweep in Pool B, defeating the Philippines and India in straight sets on either side of a 3-1 victory over Bahrain to progress to the quarterfinals.
Alizadeh’s side then defeated South Korea 3-1 (25-19, 25-19, 11-25, 25-18) on Thursday to reach the semifinals and secure qualification for next year’s FIVB Boys’ U19 World Championship, alongside China, Japan and Chinese Taipei.
Iran will be looking to add to its two world titles, won in 2007 and 2017, after finishing fourth at the previous edition in Tashkent in 2025.
Kamyab Abdollahifar, Amir Ali Shams, Milad Salari, Ali Sheikhzadeh, Abolfazl Pasha-Amiri and Pedram Heydarisefat started for Iran, while Nima Piri, Sajjad Asadi, Amir Mohammad Hemmati, Amirreza Hosseinzadeh, Arash Qahremani, Alireza Valaei, Benyamin Olfat and Aydin Choudar also featured during the semifinal victory.