TEHRAN - Iran opposite spiker Shahram Mahmoudi missed the 2019 FIVB Men's Volleyball Intercontinental Olympic Qualification Tournament.

He came out of retirement in July but is not fully prepared for the competition which takes place in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Iran coach Igor Kolakovic has announced his 14-man team for the 2019 FIVB Men's Volleyball Intercontinental Olympic Qualification Tournament.

Iran will raise the curtain on the competition with a match against Cuba on Aug. 9 in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Team Melli will play Mexico and Russia in the following days, respectively.

Squad:

Saeid Marouf, Mohammad Mousavi, Milad Ebadipour, Farhad Ghaemi, Pouria Fayazi, Amir Ghafour, Mohammdjavad Manavinezhad, Ali Shafiei, Masoud Gholami, Aliasghar Mojarad, Javad Karimi, Mohammadreza Moazen, Porya Yali and Mohammadreza Hazratpour

Men's pools:

Pool A: Brazil, Egypt, Bulgaria, Puerto Rico

Pool B: USA, Belgium, Netherlands, Korea

Pool C: Italy, Serbia, Australia, Cameroon

Pool D: Poland, France, Slovenia, Tunisia

Pool E: Russia, Iran, Cuba, Mexico

Pool F: Canada, Argentina, Finland, China

The winners of these pools to be played in single round-robin format in August will join hosts Japan in the volleyball competition at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

The Olympic qualification process will continue in January 2020 with each of the five continental confederations (AVC, CAVB, CEV, CSV, NORCECA) organizing its own Olympic qualification tournament to advance one team each per gender to Tokyo 2020.

The Olympic Games in Tokyo are from July 24 to August 9, 2020.