From Japan to Tabrizil, your high-ranking Marco Polo trip to Iran by economy flight – Mehr News Agency | Iran and world’s news
According to Mehr reporter, our country’s national volleyball team is facing one of the busiest years in history. Behrouz Atai’s students must participate in four international tournaments, each of which has its own significance, from mid-June to mid-October, within a period of five months.
In seven days, Iran’s top players will have to play against Japan in the first week of the Volleyball League of Nations, a team that is one of the most prepared volleyball teams in the world and according to Behrouz Atai, the national team will definitely have a hard time because Japan has played 9 preparatory games so far. And this is in the situation that Iran will go to the competition with only three preparatory games.
In addition to playing against Japan, Atai’s students must also compete against Polish and Chinese teams in the first week of the competition. In order to finish the preliminary round of this competition, the Iranian national team must travel to the three continents of Asia, Europe and America for about a month and they have a long way to go. If they find their way, their trip to Marco Polo will last until mid-July. Considering the long journeys and the intensity of the competition, it will definitely be difficult for the national team.
From the beginning of the national team camp, the captain of the team, Mohammad Mousavi, requested the authorities to provide them with a “business” flight considering the physical conditions of the national team players and the many trips they have ahead of them. An issue that was not paid attention to. Finally, in the last practice of the national team, not only Mousavi raised his complaints again, but other players also pointed out that they do not get support from the authorities. In his speech, Mousavi stated clearly, “Volleyball is an orphan and none of the authorities hear from us. In the old days, they used to send off ceremonies and two people would come, but now there is no news. If we conclude that they will come and take a souvenir photo, but if we do not conclude, it will be bad.” And the players are led astray.”
Of course, Behrooz Atai, the head coach of the national team, said in his last statement that providing a business flight for each national team player costs more than 300 million tomans, and the budget of the federation does not cover it, and the Ministry of Sports and the National Olympic Committee need to help volleyball in this busy year. This has not happened yet.
But after the completion of the League of Nations, the national team will rest for almost a month, and after that, Tehran will host the Asian Championship, and the national team will have to participate in this tournament from August 27th to September 4th. Iran’s seniors have the championship title in Asia in their record, and without a doubt, considering the hosting privilege, they should do their best to defend their championship title.
Immediately after the Asian Championship, the national volleyball players must participate in the Asian Games, which will be hosted by Hangzhou, China, from September 28. Undoubtedly, participating in these competitions and winning a medal is very important for the Iranian caravan, and it is considered a golden leaf in the showcase of Iranian volleyball honors, but the pressure that the Iranian national volleyball team faces after the Hangzhou Asian Games is not something that can be ignored. He easily ignored it.
After the Hangzhou Asian Games, the national team should immediately go to Brazil to participate in the most important and sensitive volleyball competition, namely the Paris 2024 Olympic qualifiers.
After the finals of the Asian Games in China and the first Olympic qualifying competition in Brazil, Atai’s students have only four days to prepare for these competitions. Of course, considering the long distance between China and Brazil, they do not have much time to recover, and this issue can overshadow the performance of the national volleyball team in this competition.
Although winning a medal in the Hangzhou Asian Games is very important for Iran’s sports officials, it should be noted that the medal of the Hangzhou Asian Games has no effect on the world ranking, while Iran’s position in the world ranking is very important for advancing to the Olympics. Of course, the head coach of the national volleyball team considers this to be routine and emphasizes that the Asian Games are important for the Ministry of Sports and the National Olympic Committee. The Iranian team in the League of Nations also has these conditions and changes the continent every seven days. There has been such a calendar before, and in 2014, the national team went straight from the World Championship to the Asian Games.
Anyway, the national volleyball team has busy days ahead, and maybe it would be a better decision if another team is sent to participate in the Asian Games in Hangzhou, but what is important these days is the support of the officials for the national volleyball team, which is a very rare issue. It has reached the point where the voices of the players have been heard.