TEHRAN - Former Iranian volleyball player and current pundit Mohammad Torkashvand has expressed dissatisfaction with the results achieved by Iran's national volleyball team in the 2023 Volleyball Nations League (VNL).

Iran started the tournament with a 3-0 loss to Japan and a 3-2 defeat to Poland. The Persians beat China 3-1 but lost in straight sets to Slovenia in Nagoya, Japan.

“There is no denying that the results are not good at all and the expectations are very high from the national team,” said Torakashvand in his interview with Tehran Times.

“The main problem, in my opinion, is that the lineup of the team is still unknown and there are some changes in the team from match to match,” he said.

“In the game against China the technical staff sent the best lineup to the match and there was a good harmony between the players. But, in other matches there were some big mistakes in the selection of the players, unfortunately,” added the former player of Iran volleyball national team.

“One of the reasons for the lack of coordination between the players could be the lack of proper preparation games.

“In the first game against Japan, the Iranian team made some big errors in their game plan. We suffered a lot in front of 20,000 Japanese fans who were cheering loudly their team.

“Furthermore, the players who have been invited to the national team should be selected based on a strategy designed by the coach, something that is not the case with the current Iran national team,” he added.

Torkashvand also mentioned some positive points about the national team.

“There are some talented young players in the national team who really have a bright future. we have to wait and be patient about these generation of our volleyball. They need time to shine in the big tournaments” he concluded.

Iran will play Germany, Italy, the U.S. and the Netherlands in Week 2 in Rotterdam, which starts on June 20.