Surabaya, Indonesia, July 25, 2017 – Former successive two-time Asian winners Iran struggled to beat Pakistan in hard-fought three-setter 25-23 25-22 25-14 to record two wins at the SMM 2017 Asian Senior Men’s Volleyball Championship at the Wahana Ekspresi Poesponegoro Gymnasium on Tuesday.
Strongly-built Amin Esmaeilnejad, who stands 201cm and weighs 97kg, tore the Iraqi defence apart with his exceptional attacks to help give Iran a clean sweep in this important match. Amin Esmaeilnejad scored a match-high 19 points including 14 kills from 25 attempts and 3 kill blocks. Aimal Khan led Pakistan with 14 points.
Iran difficultly took the first two sets 25-23 25-22 when Iraq performed superbly in counter-attacking. The third set turned out to be a totally one-sided battle as Pakistan’s game was riddled with unforced mistakes. Iran captured the set 25-14 and match.
“It was a hard match against Pakistan as we made a few mistakes, especially in the first set. In the second set, we were leading by 5-6 points as we had improved our mistakes. We played comfortably in the third set and that’s how we won the match. Winning this match for us is very important. Actually, this is the Iran’s under-23 team. We are preparing for the FIVB Volleyball Men’s Under-23 World Championship. We just make them ready for the world meet,” Iran’s Argentine head coach Juan Manuel Cichello commented after the match.
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