Iran's National Volleyball Team Defeats USA in Tehran Without Women Present

Iran's national volleyball team won against the USA with a score of 3-0 in the seventh match of the 2015 World League at the 12,000-seat Azadi Hall in Tehran. Despite threats from the International Volleyball Federation regarding a boycott of Iran, female spectators were not allowed to enter the stadium. The starting lineup for Iran included Saeid Marouf, Shahram Mahmoudi, Milad Ebadipour, Seyed Mohammad Mousavi, Adel Gholami, and Mojtaba Mirzajanpour. The Iranian volleyball players, supported by a large crowd, finished the first set 25-19 in their favor. In the second set, the USA took the lead, but Shoji's mistakes in reception allowed Iran to recover and end the set 29-27 in their favor. Iran also won the third set with a score of 25-20, securing all three points of the match. In Group B, the USA leads with 17 points, followed by Poland with 14 points, and Slobodan Kovac's team with 10 points. In another match in this group, Poland lost to Russia 3-1. During the game between Iran and the USA, Mirzajanpour's mistakes led to points for the USA, prompting Saeid Marouf to signal for his substitution. Interestingly, Mirzajanpour was immediately substituted, and the live broadcast commentator from state television noted this. On a day when neither female spectators nor even female journalists were allowed into the stadium, the responsibility for announcing in the hall was given to a woman, which became a subject of humor for some users and sports writers on social media. Pejman Rahbar, a veteran sports journalist, commented on this on his Facebook page, saying, 'Thank you, Rouhani.' According to reports, Iranian television muted its microphones during the playing of the US national anthem and only broadcast the voice of its commentator. On the morning of the match, the Tasnim news agency reported that special forces from the police were present at the Azadi Sports Complex to ensure the security of the match and prevent any 'norm violations.' This news agency wrote that the special forces were equipped with 'new equipment suitable for their mission' around the stadium. The ISNA news agency also noted that special forces had taken strict measures to control the crowd, making it difficult for journalists to enter. Even security forces clashed with journalists. According to this news agency, the 'strict approach' of security forces continued even in the VIP section, where they broke an HD camera stationed there. Fars News reported that many spectators were unable to enter the hall despite having tickets. This news agency wrote that the gathering of spectators behind the hall door led to clashes between them and the security forces. Subsequently, the police intervened and told the spectators that the responsibility for having tickets was not with them. Fars News also reported that the main camera of state television, set up in the VIP section to broadcast the game, was also broken during the clashes between security forces and spectators. In another report from Fars News, it was emphasized that security personnel also clashed with individuals who had ID cards, which sometimes 'led to clashes.' Despite the fact that female journalists were not allowed into the hall, the journalists' section was filled with various individuals. Iran's national volleyball team will face the USA again on Sunday in its eighth match of the 2015 World League.