AVC Women’s Volleyball Continental Championship:
Young Iranian squad eager to showcase upward trajectory
Iran’s women’s team may hardly be among the title favorites at the Asian Volleyball Championship, but will still have much to prove when it gets its Pool A campaign underway against Chinese Taipei in Tianjin, China, on Friday.
The Asian showpiece marks the end of a hectic international season for the Iranian women, who, despite wartime conditions hampering their preparations, claimed a second successive CAVA Championship title in June – only the second gold medal for the national team since it was established in 1963 – but endured a disappointing campaign at the AVC Women’s Nations Cup.
Iran suffered three defeats in six outings to finish seventh in the 12-team tournament in Candon, Philippines – the country’s lowest finish in four appearances.
The poor result ultimately convinced Iran’s sports authorities to leave the team out of the equation for the upcoming Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, leaving the young squad desperate for a decent run in Tianjin to prove that the Iranian women’s volleyball program remains on the right track following South Korean head coach Lee Do-hee’s appointment two years ago.
With an average age of 23.8, Iran possesses one of the youngest rosters at the Asian Championship, though Alireza Toloukian, the team’s technical director, believes the youth-oriented rebuilding was a risk worth taking.
“Since we have so many young players in the squad, we have also added a few experienced players to create a proper balance, so we are not concerned about that,” Toloukian told reporters during the team’s final training session in Tehran before departing for the tournament earlier this week.
“Youth development has to be gradual. This has happened as part of the federation’s policy for the women’s team.
“Considering the level of expectations the federation and the public have developed for Iranian volleyball, rebuilding the women’s team with young players was a major gamble. But this had to happen,” he said.
“Many years of hard work have gone into women’s volleyball, with foreign and Iranian coaches working together and planning for this team.
“I think with special attention, we can help these players progress in the future, but this is a time-consuming process. We cannot change everything in the short term.”
Toloukian said the team’s immediate goal at the Asian Championship would be to improve on its 10th-place finish in the previous edition, though he acknowledged that closing the gap with Asia’s leading teams – including Volleyball Nations League trio Japan and Thailand, as well as record 13-time Asian champion China, which is also in Pool A – would require sustained progress rather than immediate results.
“This will not happen quickly. We have to participate in different competitions, improve our ranking and gradually win more matches,” he said.
“We may not be able to catch China, Japan and South Korea at the moment, but first we have to beat teams such as Chinese Taipei, Vietnam, Indonesia and Kazakhstan.”
Iran’s opener against Chinese Taipei – runner-up to South Korea at the Nations Cup – will be a repeat of their encounter in the 2023 edition, when the East Asian side won in straight sets in the final classification match.
“We have analyzed Chinese Taipei in detail,” Iran captain Shabnam Alikhani said on Tuesday. “They competed in an East Asian event before coming to the Asian Championship and have a high level of cohesion and readiness.
“We also have a very good understanding of them and are following our training program based on that knowledge and analysis.
“In general, East Asian teams are very good in terms of speed and ball reception. Chinese Taipei has been on a good run. They reached the final of the Nations Cup, and because their players have played together for years, they have a good understanding of one another.”
Iran will face China in its second game on Monday before concluding the pool phase against debutant Iraq the following day.
The top two teams from each of the three groups will be joined by the best two third-placed teams – based on the AVC’s Combined Team Ranking System – in the quarterfinals.