Sept.1, 2021 Iran thrashed Belarus 8-2 in a friendly in Tehran on Monday as part of the preparation for the upcoming FIFA Futsal World Cup in Lithuania, IRNA 7 reported. overseas teammates for the double fixtures. 3-0 league victory over Arouca. The Croatian manager made nine changes to the squad that Meanwhile, midfielder Alireza Jahanbakhsh, on return to finished atop the preliminary group of the qualifiers in Bahrain the international duty, will hope to build on the new life at Fey- in June. enoord, which has seen him bag three goals in seven appear- Esteghlal enjoys the highest number of players – four – in ances for the Dutch club. the squad among the Iranian clubs, although three of them are The group fixtures will finish on March 29 next year, with yet to play for the Tehran-based giant as they joined the Blues the top two of each group sealing a place in the final show- this summer. piece in November next year. Japan, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Sepahan’s 19-year-old prodigy Yassin Salmani and team- China, Oman, and Vietnam are pitted in Group B. mate Mohammad Karimi have received a first international The winner of a playoff tie between the two third-placed call-up. teams will advance to the intercontinental playoff. Skipper Ehsan Hajsafi, meanwhile, will be ruled out of the The following is the full Iranian squad: two games as the new AEK Athens midfielder has been deal- ing with a hamstring strain. Goalkeepers: Alireza Beiranvand (Boavista), Amir Abedza- However, the biggest absentees for the Syrian clash could deh (Ponferradina), Payam Niazmand (Portimonense) be Skocic himself, as well as assistant Vahid Hashemian. The Defenders: Shoja Khalilzadeh (Al Rayyan), Hossein two were infected with COVID-19 last week and are yet to Kan’anizadegan (Al Ahli), Milad Mohammadi (-), Omid test negative for the disease. Nourafkan (Sepahan), Sadeq Moharami (Dinamo Zagreb), Boavista keeper Alireza Beiranvand, Amir Abedzadeh of Ja’far Salmani (Esteghlal), Saleh Hardani (Foolad Khuzestan), the Spanish second-tier side Ponferradina, and new Portu- Siavash Yazdani (Esteghlal), Aref Aqasi (Esteghlal) guese club Portimonense signing Payam Niazmand, have Midfielders: Milad Sarlak (Persepolis), Ahmad Nourollahi been called up between the posts. (Shabab Al Ahli), Mohammad Karimi (Sepahan), Yassin Iran will also be led up front by four overseas strikers in Salmani (Sepahan), Zobeir Niknafs (Esteghlal), Alireza Ja- the-afc.com Sardar Azmoun, Karim Ansarifard, Mehdi Taremi, and Mehdi hanbakhsh (Feyenoord), Saeid Ezzatollahi (Vejle BK), Ali Sports Desk The Asian powerhouse will resume its quest for a place at Qayedi, who recently moved to Emirati side Shabab Al Ahli. Qolizadeh (Charleroi), Saman Qoddous (Brentford), Vahid next year’s finals in Qatar with a home tie against Syria on Azmoun has started the new Russian Premier Liga season Amiri (Persepolis), Mehdi Torabi (Persepolis) ran head coach Dragan Skocic named 27 players for the Thursday before playing away to Iraq five days later in Group in dazzling form, scoring five in six outings for Zenit St. Pe- Strikers: Sardar Azmoun (Zenit St. Petersburg), Mehdi upcoming fixtures at the final group phase of the 2022 A, which also features South Korea, the UAE, and Lebanon. tersburg, while Taremi also got off the mark for the Portuguese Taremi (Porto), Karim Ansarifard (AEK Athens), Mehdi IWorld Cup Asian qualifiers. Ten Persian Gulf Pro League players will be joined by 17 giant Porto in the new campaign on Saturday, scoring during a Qayedi (Shabab Al Ahli) Iran’s Maroof reaffirms retirement Forgotten man Murray gives from international duty Tsitsipas match to remember in US Open team in 2005 by then head coach Zoran Gajić. Andy Murray may have been the for- “My love for volleyball gotten man at the US Open but gave drove me forward through the crowd and Stefanos Tsitsipas a this tough path over the match to remember forcing the third years,” added Maroof. seed to grind out a 2-6 7-6(7) 3-6 The 35-year-old Iranian 6-3 6-4 win on Monday to avoid the said he would now have opening round shocker. “more time to work in differ- In the buildup to Flushing Meadows ent fields of volleyball, along all the talk had centred around the Big my club career, as I have no Three, Novak Djokovic’s hunt for the intention of cutting ties with calendar-year Grand Slam and the ab- the sport.” sence of Roger Federer and Rafa Nad- The world-class setter was al, Reuters reported. the pillar of Iran’s golden But Murray reminded everyone generation of volleyball there was a fourth Beatle in that – which also included the dominant group as he turned back the likes of Seyyed Moham- clock on Arthur Ashe Stadium court mad Mousavi, Farhad Qa- looking more like the player who emi, Adel Gholami, Shahram won the 2012 US Open title than the Mahmoudi, Farhad Zarif, and injury ravaged 34-year-old. Amir Ghafour. “I’ve said it a lot over this last few GETTY IMAGES Maroof was part of the months that I know I’m capable of Stefanos Tsitsipas (L) and Andy Murray shake hands after a US Open first-round VALENTYN OGIRENKO/REUTERS team that reached the last-four playing that tennis,” said Murray, tennis match at the Arthur Ashe Stadium, Flushing, NY, US, on August 30, 2021. of the FIVB World League in still fighting his way back to form af- Sports Desk in early August, following a my decision was not an ir- 2014, and then qualified for ter career-threatening hip surgery. “I disappointed after that, frustrated, all world number one. frustrating Olympics cam- rational one and I had been the Final Six of the Volleyball need to spend time on the court, get- those things.” In the end the question was always Former Iranian volleyball paign which saw Iran fail to weighing it up for some time, Nations League in 2019. ting the chance to play against these After reaching the final of the going to be how much fuel did Mur- skipper Saeed Maroof re- progress to the quarterfinals in though it was not an easy de- He won the Asian Men’s guys. French Open, Tsitsipas arrived in ray have left in the tank and the an- confirmed his decision to bid Tokyo, finishing fifth in Pool cision-making at all.” Volleyball Championship “I proved some things to a certain New York and ready to take that final swer was not enough. farewell to the international A. Having represented the with Iran in 2013 and 2019, extent. Obviously didn’t win the step to Grand Slam champion only While Murray may have lost a duty. In an Instagram post on country’s under-19 and un- and also bagged consecutive match tonight. to nearly stumble at the first hurdle, step, his warrior spirit remains intact Maroof first called time on Tuesday, Maroof wrote, “I der-21 sides, Maroof first re- Asian Games golds in 2014 “Overall I did well tonight, but needing almost five hours in punish- as he provided the young Greek with his career in the Iranian outfit want to assure everyone that ceived a call-up for the senior and 2018. I’m really, really disappointed, really ing conditions to see off the former a tennis master class in the first set. Tokyo Paralympics Day 7 in pictures IVAN ALVARADO/REUTERS SIMON BRUTY/olympics.com ISSEI KATO/REUTERS Reece Dunn of Britain is in action during his gold-winning campaign in the men’s Robiel Yankiel Sol Cervantes of Cuba competes in the men’s long jump T46 Gold medalists Eve McCrystal (L) and Katie-George Dunlevy of Ireland celebrate on the swimming 200m medley SM14 class at the Tokyo Paralympics on August 31, 2021. competitions of the Tokyo Paralympics on August 31, 2021. The Cuban won the podium after winning the women’s cycling road time trial B at the Tokyo Paralympics on gold. August 31, 2021..