Urmia, Iran, August 23, 2023 – Spectacular performances from Meisam Salehi and Amin Esmaeilnezhad led Iran to a scintillating 3-0 (25-18, 25-15, 25-13) victory against Pakistan in the 22nd Asian Senior Men’s Volleyball Championship at Al-Ghadir Hall 1 on Wednesday to join Japan as the second semifinalists.
The dynamic duo scored respective 18 and 11 points as Iran powered past Pakistan in straight sets.
It was a complete team effort for the hosts, which also received tireless contributions from Amin Esmaeilnezhad, regarded by the coach as the pick of the team spirit.
Pakistan mounted a strong challenge in this crucial match against Iran. The classy Iran took the lead 11-8, while Pakistan could not cope with the rivals’ power-and-speed tactics. The Pakistanis went down in the first set to the well-established Iranian counterparts 18-25.
The hosts temporarily lost their touch in the beginning of the second set, leaving Pakistan to seize the opportunity to attack effectively and block solidly to leave the host behind 4-1. However, hosts Iran were not intending to surrender and the timeout by the Iranian coach, Behrouz Ataei was effective making the team come up with a quality performance to finally close the second set 25-15.
The fired-up hosts remained irresistible in the third set as they performed superbly with impenetrable defence, solid blocks and powerful attacks to capture the comfortable set 25-13, and match.
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