Bangkok, Thailand, November 30, 2022 – Hosts Pakistan underlined their domination over the Engro Central Asian Men’s Volleyball Championship after repeatedly powering past young Iranians in dramatic four-setter in the final showdown at Nishtar Park Sports Complex in Lahore on Tuesday.
The Tuesday’s showdown was a rematch of the top two teams which had already confronted each other in their last round-robin preliminary match on Monday. The host side still played better to pull off stunning 25-17, 25-16, 23-25, 25-20 win against Iran to capture the title with remarkable unbeaten record in this topflight five-team, six-day championship.
World No.41 Pakistan, which had seven national senior players including Usman Faryad Ali, Mubashar Raza, Muhammad Kashif Naveed and Hamid Yazman who joined the Pakistan squad at the Japan-hosted 2021 Asian Senior Men’s Championship in Chiba and Funabashi, where they finished 7th place, fielded the similar lineup which had already beaten the younger rivals in straight sets on Monday.
Iran, the world No.10 which finished 7th at this year’s Volleyball Nations League and 13th at the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship in Poland and Slovenia, sent a young team, 10 of them joined the silver-winning Iran team at this year’s Asian Men’s U18 Championship in Tehran.
However, with the likes of Amir Mohammad Golzadeh, who steered Iran to 3-1 win against India in the final showdown for the 21st Asian Men’s U20 Championship title in Riffa, Bahrain and landed Best Opposite Hitter and MVP awards, and Poriya Hossein Khanzadeh Firouzjah, who joined M. Shahdab Yazd Club to finish second in this year’s Asian Men’s Club Championship, Iran still proved to be one of the strongest sides to be reckoned with in the Lahore tournament.
Also strengthening the Iranian team was Mahdi Jelveh Ghaziani, 21, who joined the gold-winning Iran team at the last year’s Asian Senior Men’s Championship in Japan.
Pakistan, coached by Brazilian Rodrigues Campos Cristiano, delighted home fans with their exceptional performances to comfortably clinch the first two sets 25-17, 25-16 before Iran roared back to take the hard-fought third set 25-23. Both sides gave it all out to win the thrilling fourth set, but the on-going battle went Pakistan’s way. The host side played well in all elements including their fantastic defensive resilience to capture the hotly-anticipated set 25-20, 3-1 match and championship.
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