AVC Men’s Volleyball Continental Championship:
Iran sweeps New Zealand, makes statement start to Olympic bid
Iran’s bid for a coveted Olympic volleyball berth got off to an emphatic start at the AVC Men’s Continental Championships on Friday, as the Asian powerhouse swept New Zealand 3-0 (25-15, 25-12, 25-22) in its Pool B opener in Fukuoka, Japan.
Making his first international appearance since the preliminary round of the 2025 Volleyball Nations League, star opposite Amin Esmaeilnejad topped the scoring for Iran with 11 points, surpassing the 1,000-point mark for the national team.
Outside hitters Morteza Sharifi and Pouria Hosseinkhanzadeh added seven and six points, respectively, as Iran finished the match with 35 points from attacks, five blocks, two aces and 33 points from New Zealand’s errors, wrapping up the game in 58 minutes at Kitakyushu City Gymnasium.
Opposite spiker Seth Dylan Grant chipped in a game-high 12 points but could not prevent the Oceanian team from suffering a fourth defeat in as many meetings between the two sides at the competition, dating back to 1987.
With the champion in Fukuoka securing a place at the Los Angeles Olympics in two years, Iran will have extra motivation to chase a fifth Asian crown in eight editions, though Japan remains the heavy favorite to secure back-to-back titles on home soil.
The hosts enter the showpiece on the back of a remarkable 12-0 run in the VNL preliminary round earlier in the summer before ultimately finishing fourth.
Japan also holds a superior head-to-head record against Iran in recent years, emerging victorious in their previous four encounters, including a straight-set win in the 2023 Asian Championship final in Urmia and a five-set VNL thriller in Orléans, France, in June.
Iranian outside hitter Hosseinkhanzadeh hailed the comfortable victory as “a perfect preparation” for his side on the way to its ultimate objective in Fukuoka.
“As you saw, it was not really a difficult game for us. The players were focused on making a strong start to the tournament, which I think we did,” he said.
“Our goal here is something else, and today’s match served as a perfect preparation for us as we pursue our main objective. We always give 100 percent on the court, and that’s exactly what we did today,” added the Iranian, who finished with six points, all coming from attacks.
Iran head coach Roberto Piazza, meanwhile, praised the way his team approached the game right from the outset.
“This is just the beginning of the championship, and we started very well in the first set,” Piazza said. “I think the opponent also made some mistakes on serve, but we were in the game from the beginning.
“Today I told the players to focus on ourselves and simply think about the details. If we can do that, we can compete even against the strongest teams.”
“The second set was easier for us, so I started making substitutions. In the third set, we should have done much better from the beginning, though it was important that all the players in the squad played today,” he said.
“A team is really not just a collection of individual players. All the players have to work together for the team,” added the Italian, who is desperate to see his players deliver a much-improved performance from their below-par VNL campaign, in which Iran managed just three wins in 12 outings to finish 14th in the 18-team standings.
Iran will resume action against India on Sunday before concluding the pool phase against three-time champion China on Wednesday – a rematch of the 2023 semifinals, which Iran won in straight sets.
The top two teams in each of the three pools will be joined by the two best third-placed teams – determined through a combined ranking system – in the quarterfinals.