TEHRAN - Iranian Volleyball expert Nasser Shahnazi believes that Vladimir Alekno, new head coach of Iran national volleyball team, has a coaching style which can be challenging for the Iranian national team.

In an exclusive e interview with Tehran Times, the former coach of Saipa club said: “It seems that we always behave differently than other countries concerning our sports decisions! While other volleyball national teams started their planning for Olympic Games and other competitions a few months ago, we wasted a lot of time to select the head coach for our national team.”

Alekno was chosen by the technical committee of the Islamic Republic of Iran Volleyball Federation (IRIVF) as the new Iran head coach last week.

The Russian coach led his country’s national team to a bronze and gold medal in the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games, respectively.

“It’s undeniable that he has a perfect resume and excellent work experience,” Shahnazi said.

“But, in my opinion, Russian coach, and generally Eastern European coaches are not suitable for our country’s volleyball. In those countries, the style of play is based on the power and they have a lot of tall players, many of whom are over 200 centimeters tall. The plans for their training and their style of play is completely different from Iran,” he stated.

“The Iranian players are more technically and less physically. So, it can be difficult for Alekno to adapt to our players’ style. Our volleyball style is more like Brazil and Italy than Russia and Eastern European countries. Alekno has no time to change the tactics of our team. He also cannot change the squad so much because he does not know the domestic players. As the federation has said, he will be in his country for the next four months and will not be able to select new players from our league,” the Iranian expert added.

Alekno has succeeded Montenegrin coach Igor Kolakovic, who vacated the position in March. Tomaso Totolo and Dmitry Sosnin will reportedly assist him on Iran National Volleyball Team.

“I think the Italian assistant coach, Totolo, can help Alekno a lot because he is a skilled analyst as well. Finally, I wish Mr. Alekno success, and I hope that Iran will achieve many victories with the new head coach,” Shahnazi concluded.