Iran’s volleyball achieves first-ever Olympic qualification

In their sixth fixture, Iranian volleyballers faced Polish rivals at 11:10 Tehran’s time in Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium where they smashed the European team 3-1 to realize the long-held dream for Iran to secure a spot in the Summer Olympic Games.

The Iranian outfit performed great athletic skilled by winning the first, second and fourth sets 25-20, 25-18 and 34-32 respectively while they conceded a 20-25 defeat against their rivals in the third set.

Iran had already prevailed over China, Australia, Canada and Japan and was defeated once by France.

Iran coach Raul Lozano said “I feel immensely happy. It is special because it is a historic moment for Iran. The people of Iran have been waiting for this chance to go to the Olympics for a long time. I don’t want to talk about statistics. I’m happy with the result. We will have a party tonight to celebrate.”

Also, Iran captain Mir Saied Marouf stressed that “it’s time to celebrate. It’s the first time in history for Iran. I’m very happy to make the Olympics. We didn’t qualify four years ago, losing out by one set to Australia and it was a bad memory for us. This might have been the last chance for some Iran players to make the Olympics. We have made history.”

Iran completed their matches at the Men’s World Olympic Qualification Tournament with a 3-2 (25-23, 27-29, 21-25, 25-18, 15-8) win over Venezuela at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium on Sunday.

Rouhani hails Iran volleyball 2016 Olympics qualification

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has extended his congratulations to Iran’s national volleyball team for qualifying for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, after 52 years.

In a message on Saturday, Rouhani said the impressive victory of Iran’s national volleyball team once again brought about pride and joy for the Iranian people, Press TV reported.

He added that victories against major world volleyball heavyweights turned another golden page in the history of honors of the young Iranian people and constitute “another manifestation of endeavor and hope that the Iranian nation has exhibited to conquer the peaks of honor and a better future.”

The Iranian president expressed gratitude to all the officials and sportsmen that have been involved with the team and wished them further success.