Iran Routs Kazakhstan at Tokyo Volleyball Qualification


TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran eased past Kazakhstan 3-0 (28-26, 25-16, 25-18) at the AVC Men’s Tokyo Volleyball Qualification tournament on Wednesday.

Morteza Sharifi led Iran with match-high 19 and Maxim Michshenko bagged 14 points for Kazakhstan.

Iran is drawn in Pool A along with China, Kazakhstan and Chinese Taipei.

Igor Kolakovic’s men beat Chinese Taipei on Tuesday.

They will play China on Thursday.

Pool B consists of Australia, Qatar, India and South Korea.

After three days of the pool plays, January 10 will be a rest day, with teams finishing 3rd and 4th places from each pool crashing out of the competition and returning home. The top two teams from each pool will contest the cross semi-finals encounters, with Pool A winner taking on Pool B second place and Pool B winner battling it out with Pool A second place.

The two winners in the semi-finals set up a final showdown, where only the eventual winner will secure its berth to the Tokyo 2020. The two losing sides will fight it out in the third-place playoff encounter.