AmirAli views his participation as an important step towards achieving his long-term goals
Iran’s AmirAli GhalehNovi & Habib Naseri took part in the 2025 FIVB Beach Volleyball U21 World Championships in Puebla with a wild card granted by the FIVB. They had an excellent start to the tournament, but lost their eighthfinal match and exited the competition, probably earlier than they had hoped for. Still, GhalehNovi believes this wild card paid off with the invaluable experience they were able to gain during their campaign in Mexico and with the contribution they made to the tournament with some great efforts on the court.
· Watch the 2025 FIVB U21 Beach Volleyball World Championships on the Beach Volleyball World YouTube channel
“We are having a great experience here in Mexico, in Puebla,” 19-year-old AmirAli GhalehNovi told FIVB.com. “This is a very nice place to host such a World Championship. The venue is surrounded by beautiful nature and beautiful architecture and we are enjoying it very much.
“But most importantly, participating here also helps us be ready for our next tournaments, maybe on the AVC Tour in Asia.”
GhalehNovi & Habib entered the U21 World Championship with an exciting comeback from a set down to defeat Ukraine’s Dmytro Kozii & Sviatoslav Nahornyi, a strong team that eventually made it all the way to the quarterfinals. Then, the Iranians swept their next two pool matches – against Argentina’s Marcos Gonzalez & Brais Del Coto and China’s Liu Yuan & Mao Yuan – to top the final pool standings undefeated and advance straight to the eighthfinals. However, there they met the strong Polish pairing of second-seeded Szymon Beta & Artem Besarab, who put an end to GhalehNovi & Habib’s successful run in Puebla with a straight-set defeat.
“We managed to take three victories in three pool games, but in this last game we were a little tired and my partner was a little sick, so we could not show our good volleyball and we lost,” GhalehNovi explained. “But I hope we will be ready to come back stronger for the next tournament.”
The reason GhalehNovi & Habib could not take part in the Asian U21 Beach Volleyball Championships in Roi Et, Thailand in June was beyond their control.
“We could not attend the U21 Asian Championships, because there was a military conflict between Iran and Israel at the time and we could not get visas to go to Thailand for that event, which was a qualifier for this World Championship,” GhalehNovi explained. “Therefore, the FIVB gave us a wild card to compete in the main draw here and we are very thankful for it.”
It was the second time the young Iranian talent got to compete at a World Championship. He not only took part in the 2024 FIVB Beach Volleyball U19 World Championships in Shangluo, China, but he and his partner at that competition, Habib Akbarzadeh, made it all the way to the podium with bronze.
“Last year, I finished third at the U19 World Championship and maybe that was one of the reasons we received this wild card. It certainly paid off for us, because it has been an invaluable experience,” GhalehNovi added.
Despite the difficulties AmirAli and the rest of the Iranian beach volleyballers frequently experience with the opportunities to travel internationally, the teenage hopeful is not giving up on his sporting dreams.
“I keep training with my club in Iran. We have a beach volleyball league where we compete. We are also preparing for the Asian Games next year. Generally, my goal is to take more medals at World Championships, Asian Championships and eventually I want to compete at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles,” GhalehNovi stated.
“Qualifying for the Olympics is so competitive in Asia, since there are so many good teams like Qatar, Australia, China… So, we need to participate in more competitions, like Futures, Challenge or Elite events to improve our ranking in the world, but it is difficult to keep getting visas all the time. However, we will keep competing on the AVC Tour and the AVC Cup and we will work hard on improving our skills and our international standing towards our Olympic goal.”
2025 FIVB Beach Volleyball U21 World Championship: schedule and results
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