I actually did just see Argo earlier today. It was a nice piece of theater, but I do worry that some people would come away thinking it to be historically accurate. Maybe that’s why I’m keen to write this one (though I don’t intend to jump ahead to Canada or USA). Here’s where we are in the rundown:
Egypt
Japan
Iran
Netherlands
South Korea
Finland
Canada
Italy
Argentina
Serbia
Russia
France
Brazil
Germany
Bulgaria
Cuba
USA
Poland
You may not think of Iran when you think volleyball. And it’s true, their national program hasn’t much history at all. That is, their national standing volleyball team. Iran are powerhouses in Paralympic sitting volleyball. They entered the London Paralympics having won five of the last six gold medals, with a team of near-celebrities as sitting volleyball is extremely popular among disabled athletes in Iran (and in particular war veterans), to the extent that it’s analogous to soccer for able-bodied athletes in that regard. Team Iran came to the Paralympics expecting nothing less than gold, knowing that longtime rivals Bosnia and Herzegovina, the only other team to win a Paralympic gold medal in the last quarter-century, were their biggest roadblock. The Iranians had to settle for silver in London as Bosnia and Herzegovina won the gold medal match in four sets.
Iran’s national team in traditional volleyball…well…..they’re arriving. But that’s kind of just a polite way of saying they have no history. And in major international competitions, they really don’t. Iran have never played at the Olympics. They’ve never played at the World League before. They have only four previous world championships appearances (though three of them are from the last four world championships overall) and those have amounted to two 19th places and two 21st places. They’ve played the World Cup only twice (though again, this includes the most recent tournament), with 9th and 11th their showings in that competition. They’ve been more of a fixture at the AVC championships, playing that event every year since it became biennial in 1987. In the last five events, they’ve claimed three medals, one of each color, and their medal performances have been going the right direction — they’re the reigning Asian champions.
Which is probably why they were nominated to the qualifiers for this year’s World League. They soundly defeated Egypt in the two-leg challenger, earning them the right to play host to Japan in the qualifier. And if anything they were even more dominant against the Japanese, winning both legs in straight sets. Iran’s head coach Julio Velasco, an Argentine (fascinating how so many coaches go to other nations’ teams…it happens with pretty much every nation and sport), credited his players’ tenacity and spirit for the victory, believing it to be a grand showcase of Iranian volleyball. A large and boisterous crowd had come out to support the team, and the men on the court did not let them down. The Iran national volleyball program has undoubtedly reached its highest heights under Velasco, who recently signed a contract extension to remain at the helm of the team through 2015.
The IRIVF (Islamic Republic of Iran Volleyball Federation) have in fact their very own English-language website. It’s quite clearly something that was whipped together with FIVB oversight (if not total FIVB control), as it matches the layout of the FIVB’s site pretty exactly. And the text is pretty clearly translations, likely from original Farsi, as it does not exactly read naturally. Nonetheless, it’s worth taking a look at to get a sense of how the sport is emerging in a non-traditional nation (even beach volleyball is starting to gather interest in Iran), with particular attention to their history page. I was a bit surprised at the photographs of women playing volleyball wearing traditional headscarves. Remembering the slight to-do at the last Olympics about certain traditionalist Islamic nations being pressured to include female athletes, I figured Iran must have been one of them, but they’ve actually included women in their Olympic delegations ever since the Atlanta Olympics of 1996. They’re by no means bastions of progressivism, nor do they wish to be, but it does make me hopeful that they may field a women’s national volleyball team someday soon.
Much like Japan, Iran is home to a vibrant professional volleyball league, one which has on occasion drawn players from other nations. No current member of Iran’s national team has played pro volleyball anywhere but the homeland. Iran’s strength no doubt lies with their middle blockers. Mohammad Mousavi Eraghi probably figures as the team’s biggest scoring threat, a lean 25-year old coming into his physical prime after having been with the team for 5 years already. He’s won Best Blocker honors at Olympic qualifiers the last two cycles, as well as at the ’09 Asian championships. It bears mentioning that Iran are currently a very young team as well, as floor captain Alireza Nadi, another middle blocker, is the team’s oldest player at 32. Iran do not carry a player born in the 1970’s. Nadi’s tournament honors have been a bit more sparse than Mousavi’s, but he’s gotten a few. Setter Mir-Saeid Marouflakani has been with the national team since 2008 just as Mousavi and attained Best Setter honors at both Olympic qualification tournaments since (despite Iran’s non-advancement on both occasions). Pin hitter Hamzeh Zarini also bears mention, though he’s more of a weapon at the service line than the net, being a bit undersized to play outside hitter at the international level.
So are we looking at a winner?
No, but that’s okay. Iran are winners in a sense simply for making it this far, though Velasco will no doubt ensure they do not play as though they feel that way. This is a national program on the rise, and that’s something that makes me very happy to see. Iran’s only performance goal in this World League tournament should be to avoid having to play the 2014 qualifiers (it’s the bottom two teams, unless one is exempted as Japan were after 2011, that are duly required to defend their places in the tournament). Anything beyond that is gravy. I’ll be quite interested to see how they stack up against major international competition in what, realistically, is still one of the first times this national team will have ever faced it.
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