Held in Isa City Sports Hall of Bahrain on Sunday, the semifinal debut saw Iranians offering eye-catching athletic performances and pulling out a 3-0 (25-23, 25-20, 25-18) win over South Korean rivals.
The stunning victory over South Korea marked the seventh win in a row for undefeated Persians.
Volleyball outfit of Iran had previously thrashed Italy (3-2), Mexico (3-0), China (3-0) and the Czech Republic (3-0) in the preliminary round. Iranians also quelled Turkish and Brazilian rivals in straight sets in the playoff stage of the tournament.
In the encounter against South Korean, Mohammad Vakili, Iran’s coach, had invoked Mahdi Jelveh, Amirhossein Toukhteh, Amirmohammad Falahatkhah, Morteza Sharifi, Amirhossein Esfandiar, Pouria Yali as well as Mohammadreza Hazratpour.
Meanwhile, Russia breezed past Japan in the other semifinal encounter to set up a date with Iran in the finals to be staged today.
The tournament is being hosted by Bahrain in the cities of Riffa and Isa Town from 18 to 27 August 2017. A total of 20 teams are competing in the tournament.
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