2017 Grand Champions Cup
Grand Champions Cup is the last event before Igor Kolakovic, the head coach of Iran in 2017 which made the Montenegrin coach to call up his players.
As the Public Relations of volleyball federation reported, Grand Champions Cup is an international volleyball tournament that was first inaugurated in 1993 by the suggestion of Japan and confirmation of FIVB.
This tournament is held a year after Olympic Games both in men and women category and is also known as Mini World Cup and Intercontinental Cup.
This tournament features four continental champions, the host Japan, and a wild card set by FIVB.
The 7th Women’s Grand Champions Cup will be held on September 5-10 between the hosts Japan, China, Russia, Brazil, USA, and South Korea (Wild Card).
The hosts Japan, Iran, France, Brazil, USA, and Italy (Wild Card) are the participating teams in Men’s Grand Champions Cup that will rival on September 12-17.
Iran Launch a Tough Start
The national volleyball team of Iran launched a tough start to get ready for the Grand Champions Cup in Japan.
The trainings started on August 22 under the mentoring of Igor Kolakovic who has selected 15 players for his first training camp that are Saeid Marouf, Seyed Mohammad Mousavi, Amir Ghafour, Farhad Nazari Afshar, Farhad Ghaemi, Milad Ebadipour, Reza Ghara, Mohammad Javad Manavinezhad, Saman Faezi, Masoud Gholami, Ali Shafiei, Mahdi Marandi, Mostafa Haeidari, Farhad Salafzoon, and Mojtaba Mirzajanpour.
A Snapshot of Previous Honors
In previous edition in 2013, both men and women team of Brazil crowned the championship.
Brazil is the most honorable team of the world (4 gold and 2 silver in men category; 2 gold, 1 silver, and 1 bronze medal in women category) in this tournament.
The other medalists of Men’s Grand Champions are Italy, the Netherland, Russia, USA, Japan, and Serbia while China, Russia, Cuba, Italy, USA, Japan, and Dominican Republic have made the same record for women.
