Morteza Mehrzad delivered a dominant efficiency to information Iran to their eighth Paralympic gold in males’s sitting volleyball, defeating long-time rivals Bosnia and Herzegovina 3-1 (22-25, 30-28, 25-16, 25-12) in an exciting last on the Paris 2024 Paralympic Video games. Mehrzad was in unstoppable type, racking up 27 factors from 25 highly effective assaults and two service aces. His efforts had been bolstered by Hossein Golestani’s 21-point contribution, which included six service winners, whereas captain Davoud Alipourian added 13 factors in a well-rounded Iranian efficiency.
On the Bosnian aspect, Ermin Jusufovic led the best way with 16 factors, constructed from 10 spikes and a powerful six blocks, however his aspect struggled to include Iran’s relentless offence. Iran’s attacking prowess was on full show, outscoring Bosnia and Herzegovina 64-33 in spikes and 11-1 in service aces. Though Bosnia’s defence produced 19 blocks to Iran’s 10, they may not decelerate the Iranian assault, significantly within the later units.
Iran’s coach, Hadi Rezaei, had expressed his admiration for Bosnia and Herzegovina earlier than the ultimate, calling their rivalry “one of the essential video games within the sport.” Rezaei stated, “We vastly respect the Bosnia and Herzegovina workforce. I can let you know this, I hope that each one individuals all around the globe will witness one of the essential video games within the sport. If we win the sport, I’ll have fun the victory. If our opponents win, it is going to be my absolute pleasure to be the primary to congratulate them.”
The match proved to be as intense and memorable as Rezaei predicted, with each groups delivering an exciting last.
The opening set noticed Bosnia and Herzegovina strike first, capitalising on a failed assault from Meisam Ali Pour. This transient second of management was shortly overturned by Iran, as Alipourian led a fierce assault, scoring three consecutive factors, adopted by three aces from Golestani to surge forward 6-1. Iran maintained their lead for a lot of the set, however Bosnia and Herzegovina fought again, tying the rating at 21-21 after back-to-back blocks from Adnan Manko and Nizam Cancar. An Iranian error gave Bosnia their first lead because the opening level, and additional errors from Golestani and Ali Pour allowed Bosnia to succeed in set level at 24-21. Alipourian saved one, however Cancar’s last block secured the set for Bosnia 25-22.
Mehrzad made an instantaneous influence within the second set, firing off three towering spikes to offer Iran an early 5-0 lead. Bosnia referred to as for a timeout, however Iran’s momentum continued, with Mehrzad and Golestani main the assault. Bosnia rallied as soon as extra, narrowing the hole to 18-18 with a collection of sharp performs from Cancar and Safet Alibasic. The set turned a tense back-and-forth battle, finally reaching 28-28. Mehrzad then delivered a vital cross-court spike to deliver Iran to set level, and Jusufovic’s spike went huge at hand Iran the set 30-28, levelling the match at 1-1.
The third set noticed Iran dominate from the beginning, capitalising on errors from Bosnia and shortly establishing a 3-0 lead. With Bigdeli and Golestani contributing key factors and Mehrzad persevering with his offensive onslaught, Iran managed the set all through. Mehrzad’s unstoppable presence on the internet gave his workforce a commanding 22-13 lead, and Bosnia’s struggles on offence solely worsened. A last assault error from Mirzet Duran handed Iran the set 25-16, placing them one step nearer to gold.
Within the fourth set, Alipourian opened the scoring and continued to feed the ball to Mehrzad, who confirmed no indicators of slowing down. Mehrzad’s early factors gave Iran a 4-2 edge, and regardless of Jusufovic’s finest efforts to maintain Bosnia in competition, Iran steadily pulled away. With Ali Pour and Mehrzad combining for a collection of devastating assaults, Iran prolonged their result in 15-6. Alipourian’s block on Jusufovic additional widened the hole to 23-12, and as Bosnia’s assault faltered, Iran marched towards victory. Jusufovic’s last block earned Bosnia one final level, however Golestani’s assault and Ali Pour’s block sealed the match, giving Iran a dominant 25-12 set win and securing their eighth Paralympic gold.
Picture: WPV/Sinisa Kanizaj.