Undefeated Iran upends Russia to win FIVB U19 World C’ship

TEHRAN, Aug. 28 (MNA) – Young Iranian volleyball players managed to claim the title at 2017 FIVB Volleyball Boy’s U19 World Championship following a stunning win over Russian rivals. Held at Isa City Sports Hall of Bahrain on Sunday, the final showdown saw Iran defeating Russia 3-1 (25-20, 25-23, 21-25, 25-20) in a bid to hunt the gold medal at the international sportive debut. Iran’s Pouria Yali, Morteza Sharifi and Amirhossein Esfandiar managed to conduct 54 of the total 59 attacks by the Persian side. Japan settled for bronze medal after thrashing South Korea 3-0 (25-22, 25-22, 25-18). Amirhosseini Esfandiar of Iran was named as the ‘Most Valuable Player’ while ‘Best Outside Spikers’ title was jointly given to Esfandiar again and Russia’s Pavel Tetyukhin. Best Middle Blockers of the tournament were Artem Melnikov from Russia and Iran’s Amir Hossein Toukhteh. The tournament was hosted by Bahrain in the cities of Riffa and Isa Town from 18 to 27 August 2017. A total of 20 teams were competing in the tournament.