Iran Thrashes New Zealand in Asian Women’s U-17 Volleyball C’ship
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Iran brushed off New Zealand in straight sets (25-12, 25-20, 25-17) to seal first win at the 12th Asian Women’s U-17 Volleyball Championship at the Nakhon Pathom Municipality Gymnasium in Thailand on Monday.
Negar Salahshouri topscored Iran with 12 points including 8 kills from 24 attempts and 4 ace serves. Elahe Poorsaleh Shahdehsari contributed 11 points including 7 attacks.
Emilia Shearer emerged as the top scorer of New Zealand after handing her team 15 points including 13 attack hits.
With two losses in a row, New Zealand is assured of finishing third in Pool C, while Iran is due to take on Australia in its last pool preliminary match on Tuesday to determine the pool winner.
“We played well in the match against New Zealand. However, I think in the real competition, we always play “today” better than “yesterday” because we have a chance of learning from the mistakes we made,” Iran coach Mitra Shabanian said.
“We next play Australia, which, I think, is stronger than New Zealand. However, I will try to push my girls to beat them. Most of my players are students and that’s why we have to train a bit longer, four months, in preparation for this Championship,” she added.
“China, Japan, Korea and Thailand are the four strong teams in the Championship and one of them can win the title. My team just want to do its best,” Shabanian said.
