by Hassan Rouhvand
TEHRAN, May 9 (Xinhua) -- Iran defeated Thailand in three straight sets to pave its way to the final showdown at the 2nd Asian Men's U23 Championship and to book a berth for the upcoming world championship, Tehran Times daily reported on Tuesday.
The Iranian squad thrashed the Thais 25-22, 25-19, 25-20 at the Rezazadeh Indoor Stadium of Iran's Ardebil city on Monday.
"I am happy that we won the match. We have three more months up to the world meet in Egypt. We have already won a berth to compete in the world meet and now we have to do our best to retain our title before home fans," Iran's captain Rahman Taghizadeh said after the match.
Iran's head coach Juan Cichello said that "it is our great pleasure to stay among the top 12 teams of the world."
Over Iran's final showdown against Japan on Tuesday, Cichello added that "Japan are a very good team and I think to beat them is not easy. We will do our best to beat them."
The 2017 FIVB U23 Volleyball Men's World Championship is scheduled to be held in Egypt on Aug. 18-26.
