Coaches and Players Reflect on Foolad Vs Gas AljanoobAtaei Expresses Desire for Iranian Teams to Reach Finals in Asian Club Championship

The head coach of Foolad Sirjan Iranian volleyball team, Behrouz Ataei, stated, “It is still too early to make predictions, but personally, I would love to see two Iranian teams in the finals of this tournament.

According to the communications department of the Volleyball Federation, the second day of the Asian Men’s Club Volleyball Championship continued today (Monday, September 9) with four matches held at the 6,000-seat Shahediyeh Hall in Yazd.

Foolad Sirjan (Iran) and Gas Aljanoob (Iraq) teams faced off at 8 PM in the last match of the day, where Ataei’s players defeated their opponents with a score of 3-0.

Behrouz Ataei, the head coach of Foolad Sirjan (Iran)

We had a very good game. As you saw yesterday, the Iraqi team was the surprise of the first day of this tournament, managing to defeat Al-Rayyan from Qatar. Based on our analysis, we prepared the necessary strategies and aimed to enter the court with strength from the start, giving no opportunities to the Iraqi team. I believe our players performed exceptionally well; there were moments of inaccuracy, but we managed to turn the result in our favor. I’m pleased that during today’s match we faced some pressure, as we expect significant challenges in later stages. This experience will help us prepare for future challenges. Our next match is against Al-Rayyan, which I believe will be of high quality. Yesterday, they lost to Iraq due to inaccuracy; we will conduct thorough analyses to secure points in that match as well. The hosting in Yazd has been excellent, and a suitable venue has been provided. It’s still too early to predict outcomes, and Shahdab is a strong team, but personally, I would love to see two Iranian teams in the finals of this tournament.”

Alaa Khalaf, head coach of Gas Aljanoob (Iraq)

congratulating Foolad Sirjan: “They are a very good team with many national players. We did our best, but our players were fatigued from yesterday’s match. This competition wasn’t of primary importance for us; our goal is to win against the representative from Afghanistan to secure second place in our group. We lost one of our middle blockers in yesterday’s game, which significantly affected the team. According to competition regulations, we cannot add new players, but we will try to prepare ourselves for the next stages after a day of rest.”

Mohammad Valizadeh, middle blocker for Foolad Sirjan (Iran)

 Today, we faced the Iraqi representative who has two foreign players. We didn’t have a specific analysis of them, but we managed to control their play and secured the match in our favor. Tomorrow, we will play against the representative from Qatar, who have participated in all international competitions. I hope that with proper analysis, we can achieve victory in that match as well. I played for five years at Shahdab; it is a professional club like Foolad Sirjan, and I hope to achieve the best results with my team.

Stanislav Masliev, Opposite hitter for Gas Aljanoob (Iraq)

 Unlike our strong performance yesterday, we did not play well against Foolad today. Our focus is on the next game, and we will conduct thorough analyses to ensure victory against Afghanistan.”