News / Sports

Iran volleyball team overcomes Algeria in FIVB U23 World Championship

Monday, 21 August 2017 8:06 AM [ Last Update: Monday, 21 August 2017 8:35 AM ]

The photo shows a view of the match between the national Iranian volleyball team (players in red) and Algeria at the FIVB Volleyball Men's U23 World Championship in Cairo, Egypt, on August 20, 2017.

The national Iranian volleyball team has defeated Algeria for the second victory at the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) Volleyball Men's U23 World Championship in Egypt.

On Sunday, the Algerian sportsmen started the Pool B match at Cairo Stadium Indoor Halls Complex in the Egyptian capital city in a more determined manner and were better in service, reception and attacks.

They maintained the lead to surge ahead, and grabbed an 18-16 win in the opening set.

The Persians pulled together and came from behind in the second set to rack up points. They claimed the set by 15 points to 8.

The Iranian volleyball players sustained momentum, and continued to utilize middle attacks with much success to take the third set at 15-7.

In the fourth set, the Iranians did not capitulate and posted good defense as their opponents sought to narrow the gap. Iran finished the final set 15-12 at last.

“Algeria was very good in the first set and we should learn a lot of lessons from this match. We lost the first set, but managed to recover in the next four sets and we were good in our attack and serving. This win kept our chances to advance in the tournament,” Iran’s head coach, Juan Manuel Cichello, said after the match.

The photo shows a view of the match between the national Iranian volleyball team (players in red) and Algeria at the FIVB Volleyball Men's U23 World Championship in Cairo, Egypt, on August 20, 2017.

Iran’s captain Rahman Taghizadeh said, “The encounter was very good for us. Algeria wanted to win the match but we managed to stop them and recover to win four sets. We must fight to win the two remaining matches to reach the top four.”

“Our performance in the first set was very good, but after that the players committed some mistakes especially in the block, while at the same time Iran played very fast. Our preparation for this tournament was just one month, but we will try to win the next matches. We prepare this team for the future of Algerian volleyball,” Algeria’s head coach, Salim Bouhalla, commented.

Algeria’s captain, Abderaouf Hamimes, said, “We entered the match with a strong performance and we managed to win the first set; but then we lost our concentration and that led Iran to win the other four sets.”

The national Iranian volleyball team is scheduled to take on Turkey on Monday.

The 2017 FIVB Volleyball Men's U23 World Championship, which is the third edition of the international volleyball tournament, started in Cairo, Egypt, on August 18 and will finish on August 25.

Iran has been drawn in Pool B along with Algeria, Argentina, China, Russia and Turkey.

Pool A consists of Brazil, Cuba, Egypt, Japan, Mexico and Poland.

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