Iran hockey team celebrated a glorious innings by lifting the Croatia Indoor Cup 2017 following a 5-4 victory over the host nation in the final.

The Iranians got off their campaign here with a resounding 20-0 demolition of Slovenia in the opening match, courtesy of a six-goal strike by Abbas Aroei, and hat-tricks from Vahid Fathi, Hamid Noraniyan and team captain Behdad Beiranvand.

They followed up with wins over Belarus (8-2), Croatia (5-2) and Slovakia 11-0 in their last match. Iran topped the table standings on 12 points while Croatia finished second spot with nine points. The top two teams advanced to the final of the event held in the town of Sveti Ivan Zelina, which lies northeast of Croatia’s capital, Zagreb.

The Croatia Indoor Cup 2017 has pulled quite a reception for indoor field hockey teams from Belarus, Croatia, and the Islamic Republic of Iran, asiahockey.org reported.

The Iranian squad comprises of Behdad Biranvand, Mohammad Asnaashari, Amir Aruei, Hamid Nouraniyan, Mohsen Bohlouli, Sasan Hataminejad, Seyed Mohammad Ghorayshi, Alireza Chezani Sharahi, Abbas Aruei, Behnam Sa’di, Vahid Fathi, and Sajjad Mamizadeh.

The team is led by Esfandiar Safaei as the head coach and is assisted by Masoud Bohlouli and Abolfazl Yousefi.