AVC Men’s U23 Championship/Iran Upset Thailand to qualify for the World Championship

Ardabil, Iran, May 8, 2017 – Reigning champion Iran thrash Thailand 3-0 (25-22, 25-19, 25-20) and earned the berth for world championship at the SMM 2^nd Asian Men’s U23 Volleyball Championship at the 6,000-seater Rezazadeh Indoor Stadium.

Iran with 5-0 and Thailand 5-1 records entered the court with the dream of earning the world sport in World Championship in Egypt. Thailand seemed not to be impressed by the crowd started better than Iran but they lost the momentum from the half of the first set and finished 25-22. Iran took the lead from the second set and Thai players did their best to make it tie several times, they got close but finally Iran upset them 25-19. Thailand had only Mr. rodboonpa as the team manager who gave them applause to celebrate over winning point. Carrying the support of over 8000 fans, Iran dominated the third set 25-20 and seal the berth to world championship with win over Thailand.

Rahman Taghizadeh appreciated the support of Iranian fans and said: “I am happy that we have three more months up to the world tournament to work with such great staff of ours. We have enough opportunity to enjoy volleyball.”

Juan Cichello, the head coach of Iran said: “It is very precious to stay among the top 12 teams of the world.” Concerning tomorrow’s match against Japan, he also put: “Japan is a very good team taking part in AVC Cup with the same squad. We will do our best to win them”.