Jiangmen, China, January 12, 2020: Iran’s Mohammad Mousavi scored a match-high 16 points to help his country ease past China and win Asia’s sole qualifying ticket to the men’s volleyball competition at Tokyo 2020.
The Iranians booked their place in the Olympic Games by defeating China 25-14, 25-22, 25-14 in the final of the Men’s Volleyball Asian Olympic qualification tournament in Jiangmen, China, on Sunday.
The final was a rematch of the pool game between the two Asian giants which Iran also won 3-0.
“We are so happy because we are going to the Olympic Games,” Iran coach Igor Kolakovic said at the post-match press conference. “We’ve trained and played under great pressure for a long time because everybody in Iran expected us to qualify.”
In addition to hosts Japan, the following teams have qualified for the Tokyo 2020 men’s volleyball competition: Iran, Argentina, Brazil, Italy, Poland, France, the United States and Tunisia.
This is the second successive Olympic Games for Iran’s men’s volleyball team, following Rio 2016, where they finished fifth.