AVC Men’s Volleyball Continental Championship:
Japan proves too hard to beat as Iran’s Olympic quest drags on
Iran’s bid for an Olympic berth was left hanging in the balance following a 3-0 (25-21, 26-24, 25-23) defeat against host Japan in the AVC Men’s Volleyball Continental Championship final in Fukuoka on Sunday.
A second successive final setback against Japan means Italian head coach Roberto Piazza’s men will now have to go through next year’s FIVB World Cup in Poland – where the top three teams not yet qualified in the final standings will secure Olympic spots – or the FIVB World Ranking, which will also offer three quotas, to punch their tickets for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.
The final result on Sunday hardly reflected the tight nature of the contest, with narrow margins ultimately making the difference between the two sides, who went toe to toe across the three sets.
While Japan was superior in attack, scoring 41 points against Iran’s 36, Piazza’s side outscored its opponents with 10 blocks, twice as many as the Japanese managed.
Japan was also the better team on the service line, hitting seven aces against Iran’s three, while benefiting from 23 opponent errors, with Iran capitalizing on 19.
Yuji Nishida was the Japanese driving force in front of more than 6,500 home fans at the Kitakyushu City Gymnasium. The world-class opposite spearheaded the victory with three kill blocks, two aces and a 65% success rate in attack, finishing as the joint top scorer alongside Iranian counterpart Ali Hajipour.
Hajipour put away four kill blocks and an ace on his way to a match-high 18 points. Outside hitter Ran Takahashi fired three aces and 14 spike kills at a 61% success rate to finish with 17 points for the hosts. His 22-year-old Iranian counterpart Pouriya Hosseinkhanzadeh also reached double figures with 13 points, including two aces and a block.
Despite Iran’s winless run against its familiar foe extending to five games, Piazza still took positives from the latest setback.
“I’m really proud of my guys. In volleyball, you have to deserve every single ball in each game. We have to focus on our own game rather than the opponent, and that is something the players will have to learn.
“We are playing with a little bit more stability, and the players are starting to understand what they have to do [on the court]. They are not always capable of doing it, but sooner or later, we will reach the goal,” said the Italian.
“The most important thing is that we never gave up today. We were in the game from the beginning. We lost the first set because of our mistakes and not because they did an amazing job. Our mistakes were an important part of the first set.
“And then we were able to fight until the end in the second and third sets. We were leading in both sets but again in the crucial moments, when you need to find one special ball, they found it and we didn’t. That’s my final conclusion. Some mistakes are acceptable but some are simply not,” added Piazza, whose team also fell short in a five-set thriller against Japan when the two teams met in the Volleyball Nations League preliminaries in June.
When asked what has contributed to the growing gap between Iran and Japan in recent years, the Italian said: “There are a lot of foreign coaches working in Japan. The Japanese players are learning from different cultures, and each coach is totally dedicated to their club while also helping the head coach of the national team.
“It doesn’t mean that Iranian coaches are not good enough, but we still need support from coaches from elsewhere. That’s why in other countries, a lot of foreigners are working in different coaching staffs.”
There was, however, a bit of consolation for three Iranian players, who received individual recognition at the awarding ceremony. Hajipour picked up the prize for Best Opposite Spiker, while Hosseinkhanzadeh and Seyyed Issa Nasseri won the Best Outside Hitter and Best Middle Blocker awards, respectively.
“Honestly speaking, this award doesn’t really mean anything to me because when the team loses, it means we have all lost together,” said Hajipour, who was “willing to swap this individual award with the championship trophy.”
“We just have to forget about this setback and get ready for the next tournament. I hope that, just as Japan was able to secure the Olympic berth today, we too can open our path to the Olympics going forward.”
Hosseinkhanzadeh, meanwhile, praised his teammates for “giving their all throughout the tournament,” while urging them “to work more on ourselves to reach our ultimate goal.”
“As you saw, we had a very difficult match against a team that is truly one of the best teams in the world. This match was very important for us and all the guys gave their hundred percent and spared no effort. Everyone played with grit and hats off to them,” said the Iranian.
“We still need to work a bit more on our team and have better planning. Once again, I apologize to the dear people of Iran for not achieving what they wanted. Just seeing them smile for a moment is very valuable to us. I know they were upset by our loss, but, God willing, we can achieve good results going forward, and we need their positive energy for the rest of the way.”