Iran volleyball crowned Asia’s champions

PayvandNews – Iran overpowered Australia in straight sets (25-14, 25-17, 25-21) in the 2019 Asian Men’s Volleyball Championship at the 12,000-seater Azadi Sports Complex here on Saturday. Team Melli win Asian Men’s Volleyball Championship for the third time, as the Persian had already won the title in 2011 and 2013.

Earlier on the day, Japan defeated South Korea 3-1 (25-23,25-17, 23-25, 25-22) in third-place match.

Meanwhile, Chinese Taipei defeated China 3-1 (25-16, 23-25, 25-20, 25-16) in the 5th-6th playoff match and Pakistan beat India 3-2 (25-23, 25-21, 20-25, 19-25, 15-9) in the 7th-8th playoff encounter, asianvolleyball.com reported.

For the lower-ranked teams contesting the 9th-16th playoff encounters, all matches took place at the Volleyball Federation Hall on Friday.

The last year’s AVC Cup winners Qatar saw off Kazakhstan 3-1 (25-12, 25-18, 29-31, 25-19) to claim the 9th place, with Kazakhstan ending their campaign with the 10th position, a far cry from the 2nd place they had won in the previous edition in 2017.

Then 9th-place finish of Qatar earned them a place in the AVC Continental Olympic Qualification Tournament in Jiangmen, China between January 7 and 12, 2020. Only top 8 teams from this edition of the Asian Senior Men’s Volleyball Championship are qualified for the Olympic Qualification Tournament, but the Tokyo 2020 hosts Japan have already been qualified, Qatar, the team finishing 9th place, will be in place.

Thailand preserved their previous 11th position after putting it past the fighting Indonesia in a hotly-contested clash 16-25, 30-28, 21-25, 25-17, 15-10. Indonesia finished 12th position.

Oman completed their campaign with a below-par 13th position after a tie-breaker (24-26, 25-16, 17-25, 25-18, 15-12) win against Sri Lanka in the 13th-14th playoff on Friday. Sri Lanka came in 14th place overall.

Earning their first victory in this championship, Kuwait showed their great team spirit and improved performance to beat Hong Kong China, the team they had lost 1-3 earlier, in exhausting five sets 19-25, 21-25, 25-19, 25-23, 15-12 to finish 15th place, leaving Hong Kong China to return with the bottom 16th place overall.