Iran Volleyball Team Fails to Advance in World University Games

The Iranian student volleyball team was eliminated from reaching the semifinals of the 2015 Universiade games in South Korea after losing to Ukraine. About 13,000 male and female students from 146 countries are competing in twenty sports. In the quarterfinals, Iran had won the first and second sets against Ukraine but ultimately lost 3-2, failing to reach the semifinals. In the fourth set, Ukraine won 25-19. One of the referee's decisions in favor of Ukraine led to protests from Pouria Fayyazi, who received a yellow card. Continued protests from Iran resulted in the referee issuing a red card, which according to regulations, means a penalty point for the opponent. Park Ki-won, the former head coach of the Iranian national team, watched the match closely. Iran's volleyball team will compete against Chile for positions five to eight. The semifinal teams are Russia, Ukraine, Argentina, and Taiwan, who will compete for gold, silver, and bronze medals. Previously, Iran lost to Russia 3-0 and narrowly defeated Thailand 3-2 in a match that lasted three hours. Hamidreza Sosan Abadi, a player on the team, stated after the loss to Russia: 'They had a taller stature and played at a very high physical and technical level. Losing to this team is tough for any team.' After the loss to Ukraine, Payman Akbari, the head coach of the Iranian student team, told ISNA news agency: 'We didn't expect them to come back from the second set. The belief that we thought we would win 3-0 was wrong and caused us to lose focus.' In other sports, in taekwondo, Armin Hadi-Pour won the third gold medal for the Iranian student delegation at the 2015 Universiade by defeating a Belgian taekwondo player. In the 54 kg final, Hadi-Pour won 4-1, bringing Iran's total medal count to 3 gold, 2 silver, and 4 bronze. He had previously defeated representatives from Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Thailand, and South Korea, who had world championship experience. The head coach of the Iranian taekwondo team stated after Hadi-Pour's gold medal: 'He has been professionally competing in the league for four years. He joined the national team eight months ago and also won gold in the Netherlands tournament.' In the 68 kg category, Vahid Eisa-Biglou was eliminated in the quarterfinals by a South Korean fighter, missing out on a medal. The importance of these competitions is high because at the end of each taekwondo weight category, 20 points are awarded to the first place for Olympic qualification. Mohammad Jafar Moradi could not finish the 10,000 meters final in athletics. Out of 30 participants in this event, only two from Turkey, one runner from Canada, and the Iranian representative could not finish the race. The Iranian student football team, which had lost all three previous matches against Japan, Malaysia, and Brazil, faced Ukraine for positions nine to sixteen and suffered a fourth defeat, losing in penalty shootouts. In the medal ranking table, South Korea leads with 30 gold, 23 silver, and 18 bronze medals. China is second with 22 gold medals. Russia with 19 gold, Japan with 17 gold, and the USA with 15 gold follow in the rankings. Iranian male and female students, with three gold, two silver, and four bronze medals, are ranked eleventh after Australia.