According To Iran News, Iran national volleyball team’s head coach Igor Kolakovic feels really good being in the Middle East country and says that Iran is a safe country.

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has recently banned the Iranian teams from hosting international matches based on safety fears over the current tensions in the region, however Kolakovic says Iran is a safe country.

“The Iranian people are very hospitable and the country is safe. I receive so many messages from my friends per day and they ask after the Iranian people. They, indeed, support the Iranian people. I have good memories from Iran and I am sad because I have to leave the country after the Olympics,” he told the Tasnim News Agency.

Under stewardship of Kolakovic, Iran booked a place at the 2020 Olympic Games after becoming champion at the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) 2020 Olympic Qualification Tournament in Jiangmen, China.

“To win an Olympic berth is not an easy task because all teams took part in the competitions with the best preparation. The best Asian teams were in the China but they had nothing to lose against Iran. They played against us without any fear. On the other hand, we had so many problems ahead of the event because our key players like Farhad Ghaemi and Amir Ghaffour missed the competition due to injury and several players got cold when arrived in Jiangmen,” Kolakovic said.

Iran fought back from a set down to beat South Korea 3-2 in the competition’s semis.

“We had problem against Korea because they played very better than expected. And we could not play as usual. The final match against China was very easier than we expected. Our players were ready, both physically and mentally. Iran has so many rising stars and I am sure that they will be added to Team Melli in the near future,” Kolakovic stated.

“To be present in Olympics is very good for Iran’s volleyball. It’s not a long time that Iran has introduced itself as a world power. Iran has qualified for the Olympics for the second successive time and it proves that Iran also is a powerhouse team in volleyball. The team has a bright future. A team like Serbia, who is champion of the Europe, has failed to win a place in the Olympics because the qualification in the Europe is very difficult,” the Montenegrin trainer went on to say.

“I am happy for what I have done for Iran volleyball. I called up Morteza Sharifi, Amir Hossein Tukhteh and Saber Kazemi and Mohammad Reza Hazratpour to Team Melli for the 2018 World Cup and now they can replace the big stars like Saeid Marouf and MohammadMousavi. I am proud of my team,” Kolakovic concluded.

The post Iran Is a Safe Country : Volleybal Coach Igor Kolakovic appeared first on Iran News Daily.

According To Iran News, Iran national volleyball team captain Saeid Marouf says that they had some mistakes against South Korea but they didn’t lose their focus during the match.

Iran defeated Korea 3-2 (22-25, 25-21, 25-18, 22-25, 15-13) in the semifinal of the AVC Men’s Tokyo Volleyball Qualification on Saturday.

“First of all, I’d like to say congratulations to team Korea, because today they did an amazing job and put us under a lot of pressure,” Marouf said in the post-match news conference.

“We had some mistakes but in the tie-breaker, we didn’t lose our focus and won this game. Now I want to say we are happy to go to the final. We don’t know which other team will qualify yet, but it will be much harder so we need to recover and forget this game,” he added.

“We have to play more than 100 per cent tomorrow. Today it was a good experience for us anyway,” Marouf concluded.

The post We Didn’t Lose Focus against Korea appeared first on Iran News Daily.

According To Iran News, Iran national volleyball team head coach Igor Kolakovic says that Team Melli will have a difficult match against South Korea.

Iran eased past China in straight sets (25-22, 25-20, 25-21) on at the AVC Men’s Tokyo Volleyball Qualification tournament and will play South Korea in the semifinals on Saturday.

“I think it’s better for both teams to save more energy for the semifinals. I believe my team did well except some mistakes at the beginning, but we gradually controlled the game with reception, first attack as well as in defense,” Kolakovic said.

“We have a difficult match against South Korea. They played well against Australia and Qatar but we are ready for this match. South Korea plays very fast and they are good at defense,” he added.

The post Iran Ready for Strong Korea appeared first on Iran News Daily.

According To Iran News, Iran national volleyball team finished in eighth place at the 2019 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Cup.

Team Melli is placed in the 8th position with 12 points.

Iran national volleyball team lost to Russia, Egypt, Brazil, USA, Japan, Italy and Poland in the competition held in three Japanese cities Nagano, Fukuoka and Hiroshima from October.

Igor Kolakovic’s men defeated Australia, Canada, Argentina and Tunisia in the competition.

Brazil remained unbeaten and won the title with 11 wins and 32 points, followed by Poland and USA.

Tunisia came last with one win and four points.

Final standing
1. Brazil
2. Poland
3. United States
4. Japan
5. Argentina
6. Russia
7. Italy
8. Iran
9. Canada
10. Egypt
11. Australia
12. Tunisia

The post Iran Finishes 8th at 2019 FIVB World Cup appeared first on Iran News Daily.

According To Iran News, Iran national volleyball team head coach Igor Kolakovic says that Japan was really unbelievable in the match against Team Melli.

Japan defeated Iran 3-1 (25-16, 26-28, 25-13, 25-21) at the 2019 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Cup on Sunday

“First of all, congratulations to Japan for the clear victory. It was a really nice performance by the Japan team, even though we didn’t start the game so strongly. In the end we won the second set, but today Japan showed some really nice volleyball, especially in their service, reception, and defense,” Kolakovic said.

“It is so difficult to play against Japan if they play like this. I have been a coach of national teams since 2003 and have played a lot of games against Japan, but this is the first time I have seen Japan in this condition, and this performance was really unbelievable.”

“Congratulations again. I can’t have any regrets about this loss because Japan tonight showed us really nice volleyball,” he added.

The post Japan’s Performance Really Unbelievable appeared first on Iran News Daily.

FIVB World Cup: Iran Falls to Japan

According To Iran News, Iran national volleyball team was defeated against Japan 3-1 (25-16, 26-28, 25-13, 25-21) in the second phase of round-robin play of the FIVB World Cup on Sunday.

Yuji Nishida and Yuki Ishikawa both scored 23 points for Japan and Porya Yali had 13 points for Iran.

Team Melli has won four and lost five out of nine matches so far.

Iran national volleyball team will play Italy on Monday.

The 2019 edition of the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Cup features 12 national teams from the five continental confederations playing in Nagano, Fukuoka and Hiroshima in a round-robin format from October 1 to 15.

The Men’s World Cup kicked off for five match days in Fukuoka and Nagano and the teams have moved to Hiroshima for the remaining six match days.

The post Iran Falls to Japan appeared first on Iran News Daily.

According To Iran News Iran came from behind to beat Canada 3-1 (18-25, 25-23, 27-25, 25-19) at Nagano White Ring Arena.

Iran national volleyball team coach Igor Kolakovic says that the young players showed their quality in the match against Canada at the 2019 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Cup on Friday.

“After two defeats this was a really important victory for us because our confidence was down a little bit. After the first set we started to play with our energy and I’m so happy because some players showed their quality, especially players from the bench and the young players who are really the future of Iranian volleyball. I hope that we can keep this kind of energy for the next games,” Kolakovic said after the match.

The Montenegrin coach praised Aliasghar Mojarad who led Iran with 15 points in this match.

“Mojarad is more of a blocker than an attacker. I’m not satisfied with his block, because he can be much better in the block, even though he made some points in attack. But he surprised me with his service, because he didn’t make as many mistakes as usual, and for that reason I am happy with his performance,” he added.

The post Iranian Young Players Showed Their Quality appeared first on Iran News Daily.