Linping, China, September 26, 2023: Iran beat host China 3-1 to win the Asian Games men’s volleyball title for a third consecutive time before a partisan capacity crowd at the Linping Sports Centre Gymnasium on Tuesday night.
Iran lost the opening set 25-19, but came on in the second and swept the final three sets 25-14, 25-22, 26-24 to claim the gold once again.
Shahrooz Homyoun Farmanesh paced Iran with a team-high 17 points in victory.
Zhang Jinyin led China with a match-high 19 points in the loss.
Iran’s experience proved decisive, as they remained poised after losing the first set and responded to the challenge with strong attacks and blocks.
“It was a wonderful match but the result was regrettable and the Chinese team was not able to win the gold medal,” captain Jiang Chuan stated. “But it was almost there and we lost in that last moment. That was not very encouraging to us.”
The opening set was tight until China started to pull away just past halfway through, taking an 18-14 lead. China benefitted from several service aces and good blocking to claim the set 25-19 in 24 minutes.
Iran took the initiative in the second set and led 15-12 with improved service and defense. China took a timeout after an unforced error put Iran up 18-13, but could not change the momentum and Iran took the set 25-14. Homyoun Farmanesh scored an impressive 10 points for Iran in the set.
Iran kept up their strong play in the third set with powerful attacks that China had trouble defending against. An unforced error made it 17-13 for Iran and they went on to capture the set 25-22.
The fourth set saw the lead change hands several times, before Iran moved ahead 15-12 on a service ace and China called a timeout. China battled back to level the score 19-19, but Iran moved ahead 23-21 on an unforced error and completed the triumph 26-24.
"You could see that there is something that needs to be improved on from our experience in the final," China coach Wu Sheng commented following the loss.
In earlier action, Japan defeated Qatar 3-1 in the bronze medal match. Japan took an epic opening set 37-35, then the second set 25-22. Qatar won the third set 25-23, before Japan closed out the match 25-23 in the fourth set.
Japan was led by Yudai Arai’s match-high 22 points in the victory.
Raimi Wadidie was the top scorer for Qatar with 20 points.
