CAVA Beach Volleyball Championships:
Iranian pairs claim men’s gold, bronze
Iran capped a dominant campaign at the CAVA Beach Volleyball Championships by winning the men’s gold and bronze medals on the final day of the tournament in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
The Iranian duo of Abbas Pourasgari and Alireza Aqajani defeated Kazakhstan’s first team in straight sets, 21-19, 21-5, in Monday’s final to lift the title and complete an unbeaten run of six victories.
The pair had already secured qualification for the 2026 Asian Beach Volleyball Championships by reaching the final.
Iran also collected the bronze medal through Abolhassan Khakizadeh and Amirali Qalenoei, who defeated Kazakhstan’s second team 21-11, 21-16 in the third-place playoff.
Khakizadeh and Qalenoei, who teamed up to win silver at April’s Asian Beach Games, advanced to the semifinals as Group A winners after recording four consecutive victories over Kazakhstan, two Uzbek teams and the Maldives. Their only defeat came against Kazakhstan’s first team in the last four.
Rahman Raoufi and Abdolraouf Bastegani served as the team’s coaches, while Nader Ansari was the delegation leader.
The two medals took Iran’s volleyball medal haul across all disciplines into double figures over the past four months.