Iran are the 2023 junior world champions! In Sunday’s thrilling rollercoaster final of the FIVB Volleyball Men's U21 World Championship in Bahrain, they celebrated a five-set victory over Italy to return to the throne they had claimed in 2019, but lost to the Italians in 2021. It was Iran’s second gold in the history of the competition. They also had a bronze medal in 2007.
Men's U21 World Championship 2023
Iran regain U21 throne after edging Italy in thrilling final
Bulgaria grab bronze
Published 07:18, 16 Jul 2023
2023 U21 world champions Iran
For the Italians, the silver in Manama was the third consecutive and eighth overall U21 World Championship medal. They won gold in 2021, silver in 1985, 1991, 1993, 2019 and 2023, and bronze in 1995 and 2013.
Bulgaria completed the podium with bronze. It was their third podium in the history of the competition. They triumphed as champions in 1991 and claimed bronze in 2003.
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Inspired by the noisy support from the stands, Iran came back from a set down to snatch a win. Led by opposite Amir Mohammad Golzadeh with two aces and six spiking points, they stayed in control throughout the first set to take the lead. In the second, his Italian counterpart Alessandro Bovolenta spearheaded his team’s attack to draw level. Mattia Orioli was on fire in set three to power the Italians in taking a 2-1 lead. In the next two sets, however, the Iranians were merciless. Poriya Hossein Khanzadeh Firouzjah showed a phenomenal all-round performance, steering his team to the victory.
Amir Mohammad Golzadeh was Iran’s leading scorer with two aces, two kill blocks and 16 spiking points, including the back-row winner, with which he closed the tie-breaker at 15-9. Poriya Hossein Khanzadeh Firouzjah impressed with a total of five aces towards an 18-point tally, which also included three kill blocks. Middle blocker Shayan Sepehri Fard also reached the double digits with 12 points, including four stuffs. Italy’s Alessandro Bovolenta was the best scorer of the match with 21 points, all in attack, while Mattia Orioli added another 17, including four aces and a block.
“I thank God. I am so happy to win this world championship trophy,” Amir Mohammad Golzadeh told Volleyball World. “I wish the best to the Italian team. They played very well tonight in the final. We are a very good team. We know our potential, and some of our stars can join the senior team.”
“It was a strong match. It was 3-2, and in the three sets that we lost, we gave up too early,” said Italy’s head coach Matteo Battocchio. “This is not the right thing for us, because we worked hard to be here and try to live this dream, and we gave up too early. We did what we could do, so the truth is they are a strong team. We knew that to win this match, we had to play better than them, but they played better than us and this is part of the game.”
Bulgaria celebrate their bronze medal victory
Earlier on Sunday, Bulgaria hammered out a shutout of Argentina to earn the bronze medals. It was their third podium in the history of the competition. The Europeans broke away after 4-4 in the first set and never looked back. Spearheaded by outside hitter Georgi Tatarov, they took the lead after a 25-22 close. In the second, with Aleksandar Nikolov on fire, they ran off and had a six-point lead at 17-11, when Argentina fought back to catch up at 24-24 and push it to overtime. Still the Bulgarians stayed focused to double their lead. Breaking away with an early 5-2 lead, they made the third set a one-sided affair and cruised on to win the match in straight sets.
The southern Europeans outplayed the South Americans in all scoring elements, mostly in attack with 49 successful spikes against 43. Georgi Tatarov delivered the match high of 19 points, including two blocks and an ace, followed by Aleksandar Nikolov with 16 (one ace) and Venislav Antov with 14 (four blocks). Argentina’s best scorer Fausto Diaz finished with 11 points.
“We played a very high level of volleyball tonight. We were very tired from yesterday and were very unhappy with our semifinal result, so we used that rage and released it today,” Aleksandar Nikolov told Volleyball World. “I think Argentina were a little more unhappy with yesterday because they didn't play the way they did in previous matches, which was great for us. We managed to get the win in three sets, so we’re very happy. It was a lovely tournament. This last match really made it something that we will remember forever. We came here to win the gold medal. Unfortunately, the dream got stopped short yesterday, but at least we are going home with something…”
