Our goal was to reach top four – Iran coach Peyman Akbari
Dubai, United Arab Emirates, August 31, 2015 – Iran defeated Korea 3-1 and finished seventh position in the FIVB Men’s U23 World Championship at Al Nasr Club on Monday. Iran coach Peyman Akbari commented that their target was to reach top four in the tournamnet.
Iran coach Peyman Akbari:
We had a great match together with Korea and they were skillful and full concentrated in this match. I would like to thank organizers of the tournament because it was a very well organized one. Dubai is a very nice country and knows how to treat it’s guest. My last thank is for the Iranian audience that keeps supporting the team and raise their winning spirit in the match. Our target in this championship was to reach semifinals but maybe we had some injuries and bad luck. It is natural not to reach your goal in sports. I am proud of my players because they tried their best although we did not reach our target and I am sure that there is no player in our team that would like to lose a set or a point in any match."
Iran captain Fayazi Damnabi Pourya:
I want to thank the Korean team for the respect they showed. We came here to get a medal but we had a hard luck this time so we are willing for the coming tournament. I think we did not reach our real position in this tournament. I apologize to my country but the problem is that our team lost 3 players because of the injuries and at the same time I like to thank Dubai for the nice treatment they showed to us.
Korea coach Hong Haechon:
We would like to congratulate Iran for their victory, it was a fantastic match. We also would like to thank FIVB and congratulate them for organizing such a great championship and Dubai, for their hospitality; it was truly a spectacular tournament and we'd like to give a big thanks to them. Today, we were unable to get our main setter to play due to injury and it cost us. We couldn't score enough points and lost.
Korea captain Son Taehun: I am not satisfied with the result but nonetheless, I think that participating in this World Championship helped us gain tremendous experience that will help us to improve in the future.