The Iranian men’s national junior volleyball team has won a third match in a row at the preliminary round of the 18th edition of the Asian Men's U20 Volleyball Championship in Chinese Taipei, moving past Hong Kong.
On Saturday, Iran’s squad - which had captain Rasoul Aghcheli, Javad Karimi, Esmaeil Talebi, Amir Hossein Esfandiyar, Emaeil Mosafer, Tayyen Eini and Ali Asghar Mojarrad in its initial line-up - made a good start to the Pool B game at the indoor Kaohsiung Arena in the southwestern Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung, picking up most of the points.
The Persians were up 8-4 at the first technical timeout, before their Southeast Asian opponents could establish themselves on the court, and narrowed the difference to 15-16 at the second timeout. Iranians finally won the first set 25-13.
The Iranian team maintained domination in the second set with some good attacks, and clinched it 25-17.
The defending Asian volleyball champions did not relinquish after the breather, and maintained their pressure on Hong Kong’s defense to finally score to a 25-15 victory at the end of the third set.
Iran’s 18-year-old Amir Amir Hossein Esfandiyar was named the top scorer of the match with 12 points.
The 18th edition of the Asian Men's U20 Volleyball Championship kicked off in Kaohsiung on July 9 and will wrap up on July 17.
Iran has been pitted against Qatar, Turkmenistan and Hong Kong in Pool B of the tournament.
Host Chinese Taipei, Thailand, Kazakhstan and Myanmar are drawn in Pool A.
Pool C comprises China, Japan, Pakistan and Iraq, while South Korea, Bahrain, Sri Lanka and Australia are in Pool D.