Iran NT 2018

  • According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/…0%93_Men%27s_team_rosters:


    S: Marouf, Vadi

    MB: Mousavi, Shafiei, Faezi, Toukhteh

    OH: Ebadipour, Ghaemi, Manavinejad, Sharifi

    Opp: Ghafour, Kazemi

    L: Marandi, Hazratpour


    However, I've read earlier that Marouf was injured, so this list may not necessarily be the final roster.


    Other than that, this is obviously Iran's strongest lineup, despite notable absence of Salafzoon and Mirzajanpour.

  • Marouf's injury was nothing serious. at the moment only Mousavi and Ghaemi have slight injuries. and yes this is the final roster for the Asian Games and most probably the World Championship Kolakovic says having changes after the Asian Games is unlikely but not impossible


    Vadi is a better setter than Salafzoon. and as we knew MirzaJP is in Kolakovic's black list. he was supposed to play for Iran B team in AVC Cup but he rejected that. so I think even if Kolakovic is going to make a change there is no chance for MirzaJP.

  • Marouf's injury was nothing serious. at the moment only Mousavi and Ghaemi have slight injuries. and yes this is the final roster for the Asian Games and most probably the World Championship Kolakovic says having changes after the Asian Games is unlikely but not impossible


    Vadi is a better setter than Salafzoon. and as we knew MirzaJP is in Kolakovic's black list. he was supposed to play for Iran B team in AVC Cup but he rejected that. so I think even if Kolakovic is going to make a change there is no chance for MirzaJP.

    Thanks, Mosi. It's interesting to know that both China and Japan will send a B team to the Asian Games since it 'collides' with the World Championship, while Iran will send the same team to both tournaments.


    It's good to see that Iran NT suddenly has an influx of good-quality new players (for example, Shafiei, Sharifi, Toukhteh & Kazemi) this year. I think with the arrival of Sharifi, the value of Mirzajanpour is diminished. Sharifi is a decent passer, and offense-wise Mirzajanpour is not stable, while Sharifi also does a decent job in spiking. Mirzajanpour played very well in the entire year of 2014, and then mysteriously he's no longer the same player.

  • well maybe China and Japan can afford losing a gold medal but for Iran NOC every single possible gold medal matters here. the initial plan was sending the B team , they even appointed a coach and made a list but then the NOC pushed the volleyball federation into using the A team. apparently most of the players also wanted to go to the Asian Games.


    Iran B team just advanced to the AVC Cup final. I think if Kolakovic is going to make a change that will be Yali, Esfandiar or Karimi the setter. key players in this B team .


    for so many years under Kovac and later Lozano, Iran relied only on a limited group of players. I'm glad Kolakovic finally changed that bad habit. for example I never understood how come Mahdavi is the second setter for a decade ?! he was always a terrible setter.

  • well maybe China and Japan can afford losing a gold medal but for Iran NOC every single possible gold medal matters here. the initial plan was sending the B team , they even appointed a coach and made a list but then the NOC pushed the volleyball federation into using the A team. apparently most of the players also wanted to go to the Asian Games.


    Iran B team just advanced to the AVC Cup final. I think if Kolakovic is going to make a change that will be Yali, Esfandiar or Karimi the setter. key players in this B team .


    for so many years under Kovac and later Lozano, Iran relied only on a limited group of players. I'm glad Kolakovic finally changed that bad habit. for example I never understood how come Mahdavi is the second setter for a decade ?! he was always a terrible setter.

    Yeah, Yali is a good prospect. Judging from his VNL performance, he's perhaps not strong enough to take the OPP position at the senior NT, but occasionally he spiked some difficult rallies. At a height of 209cm, he is an important future reinforcement.


    Regarding Mahdavi, in addition to Kovac and Lozano, Velasco is the one who kept using him for years. When I saw Salafzoon playing in World League last year, I was also wondering why the coaches never tried any setters other than Mahdavi before.

  • Is Sharifi injured? He seldom played in this WCh. During the VNL, he's been the main weapon for Iran.


    he got injured in last friendly match before the competition against Canada if I'm not wrong. that's why he had less playing time in the whole competition.


    btw Kolakovic made a perfect job by players selection. today in the last match when Ghafour was injured he had to play with youngster Saber Kazemi and the kid almost missed every single spike. at some point Marouf stopped to set for him no matter what. it was like Iran playing with 5 players on the court.

  • he got injured in last friendly match before the competition against Canada if I'm not wrong. that's why he had less playing time in the whole competition.


    btw Kolakovic made a perfect job by players selection. today in the last match when Ghafour was injured he had to play with youngster Saber Kazemi and the kid almost missed every single spike. at some point Marouf stopped to set for him no matter what. it was like Iran playing with 5 players on the court.

    Thanks for the info. I think Kazemi played decent and looked hopeful during the VNL. I've read that USA played with McDonald as OH and still managed to sweep the opponent. I'll watch the replay when I get a chance.