Volleyball coach Alizadeh hails Iran U18’s Asian title triumph

TEHRAN – Iran head coach Abdolreza Alizadeh says his team overcame difficult circumstances to claim the 2025 Asian U18 Men’s Volleyball Championship title and believes the country’s new generation of players has the potential to reach the senior national team.

Alizadeh said preparations began under extremely challenging conditions amid the war.

“We started our training camp on April 9 under very difficult circumstances. After scouting and evaluating around 460 players, we eventually selected 14 to prepare for the Asian Championship,” he said.

Alizadeh noted that all members of the squad were making their international debuts.

“None of the players had previous experience in international competitions or had represented Iran before. We also had no overseas friendly matches. Our only preparation consisted of games against Iran’s U17 national team, several domestic clubs, and two or three friendly matches in Urmia before heading to the tournament.”

The coach praised the overall standard of the tournament.

“The level of competition was very high. South Korea and Japan were strong teams, while India and Pakistan were among the title contenders. Pakistan were eliminated by China, Japan knocked out India, and we defeated South Korea. Overall, the quality of the tournament was excellent.”

Alizadeh believes the current generation has a bright future.

“This is an exceptionally talented group of players. I believe we have athletes in every position who have the potential to play for Iran’s senior national team.”

The former national team libero also highlighted the team’s depth at the libero position.

“We had two outstanding liberos. One is around 1.90 meters tall and the other is over 1.85 meters. It is rare to find liberos with that kind of height in world volleyball. Players such as Ali Sheikhzadeh and Arash Ghahremani are also tall liberos, and this is the type of player modern volleyball increasingly requires.”

Iran dominated the individual awards at the championship.

“We had two highly talented setters, one of whom was named Best Setter of the tournament. Our opposite hitter was named the Most Valuable Player (MVP), while Abolfazl Pasha Amiri received the Best Spiker award. Physically and technically, these players are in excellent condition.”