France Again Eases Past Iran in Rio Volleyball Qualifiers

France took advantage of the absence of Iran’s talsimanic Amir Ghafour, and was able to set up a wall blocking the other Iranian hitters, Tasnim reported.

Iran looked completely different without their main opposite spiker Ghafour, as Shahram Mahmoudi and Milad Ebadipour were forced to run the offence with minimal support from their teammates.

Mahmoudi topped all scorers with 19 points. Ebadipour chipped in 14 points on a losing effort for Iran.

France’s Antonin Rouzier looked sharp on offence, scoring 18 points, while Kevin Tillie had a good stint from the flanks, contributing 13 points.

French Head Coach Laurent Tillie’s men have already defeated China 3-1 and lost to Poland 3-2 in the competition.

Iran will face Japan on Wednesday.

Eight strong teams are competing at the Men’s Olympic Qualification Tournament from May 28 to June 5 at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium.

The qualification tournament in Tokyo, which also serves as the Asian qualification tournament, will provide the top ranked Asian team and the top three ranked teams with the four Rio 2016 Olympic Games qualification slots available.

 

IFP: As reported by KhabarOnline,12 years ago, the French national team defeated Iran in the Olympic qualifiers and prevented Iran from booking a ticket to Athens.

Now, even though Iran has become one of the world’s major volleyball powers, France once again managed to triumph. Iran has never achieved a victory over the French.