.svg)
Iran Wins Boys' U17 World Title
Sina Hazrati of Iran was named most valuable player, Brazil took the bronze from Argentina, and Iran's senior women reached their first Asian Championship semifinal the same week.
The FIVB Boys' U17 World Championship finished in Doha on Saturday, and Iran won it, beating France 3-1 (25-18, 25-15, 22-25, 25-12) after France had taken the third set.
Brazil beat Argentina 3-1 (21-25, 25-17, 25-18, 25-13) for the bronze medal in Doha, dropping the opening set and then taking the next three by eight, seven and twelve points.
That third set at 25-22 is the only stretch of the four in the final in which the two sides were ever separated by fewer than seven points.
The FIVB headlined the match report with Iran holding off France, which is a strange way to describe a fourth set that finished 25-12 after the first two had gone by seven and ten.
Iran's senior women reached the semifinals of the AVC Asian Championship in Tianjin this week for the first time in their history, and then lost 3-0 to China (25-22, 25-12, 25-19).
Iranian volleyball therefore closes the week with a boys' world title in Doha and a senior women's first in Tianjin, which is a federation-wide result rather than one team's good Saturday.
Sina Hazrati, the Iran captain, was named most valuable player of the tournament by the FIVB. He spoke to the governing body after the final in Doha.
We worked very hard for this title, and winning it is the result of everything the team has put into this tournament.
Iran scored 97 points across the four sets and France scored 70, and thirteen of those twenty-seven points of daylight came after France had won the only set it took.
