TEHRAN – Iran defeated Kazakhstan 3-1 (25-19, 21-25, 25-23, 25-17) in the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Men’s U21 World Championship on Thursday.

Pouya Ariakhah led Iran with 21 points, while Kazakhstan’s Klim Ryukhov scored 13 points.

Iran are scheduled to meet Puerto Rico on Friday.

In 2023, Iran defeated Italy in a five-set final to capture the title, while Bulgaria secured the bronze over Argentina.

The teams competing in Jiangmen are Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Colombia, Cuba, Czechia, Egypt, France, Indonesia, Iran, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Morocco, Poland, Puerto Rico, Thailand, Tunisia, Türkiye, Ukraine and the U.S.

They are divided into four pools of six for a round-robin first stage. The top four in each pool progress to the eighthfinals, with winners advancing to the quarterfinals and losers continuing in playoffs for ninth to 16th place.

The bottom two teams in each pool contest classification matches for positions 17th to 24th. All teams will play through to the final day, producing a complete ranking from first to 24th.