Iran finishes fourth in FIVB U19 World Championship

TEHRAN,July 9(MNA)--Poland beat Iran to win bronze medal in the FIVB Boys’ U19 World Championship on Monday. Poland defeated Iran 3-1 (19-25, 25-21, 25-19, 25-17) at the Baja California High Performance Center in Tijuana, Mexico. It is the second bronze medal for Poland in the 13-year history of the age-group competition added to the one they won in 1999 when the event took place in Riyad, Saudi Arabia, FIVB wrote. Based on strong serves and huge blocks Poland outclassed their opponents establishing overwhelming differences of 18-6 in the blocking stats and 7-1 in the aces category. Bartorsz Bucko and Bartlomiej Lemanski, who only started the last two sets, shared the lead in the score charts of Poland with 18 points. Akbar Valaei and Mohammadjavad Manaviznezhad were the top scorers for Iran with 17 and 12 points respectively. “Poland is a different team to the others because they have the skills and are very tall also. They won the match starting with their serves and continuing with their blocking. Iran setter injured and it was a problem for us,” Iran coach Iraj Mozaffari said during the post match news conference. European champions Russia beat China 3-1 (25-23, 22-25, 25-17, 25-14) and won the title. Russia had defeated Iran 3-0 in semis.