2016 Olympics Rankings: #6 Iran (Men)

The Iran men's volleyball team clocks in at No. 6 in our 2016 Olympics Rankings, and we expect it will finish just outside the medal rounds in Rio.

Jul 31, 2016 by FloVolleyball Staff

By Bev Oden

The FloVolleyball Olympics Rankings will count down to the start of the indoor volleyball competition in Rio by highlighting one team per gender each day. Today, six days before the first serve, we profile the No. 6-ranked Iran men and Serbia women.

COUNTRY: Iran

TOP PLAYERS

Seyed Mohammad Mousavi Eraghi, Middle Blocker
Iran's best scorer, blocker and server at World League

Shahram Mahmoudi, Outside Hitter
Iran's best spiker and second-best scorer at World League

Milad Ebadipour Ghara H., Outside Hitter
Iran's second-best spiker and server at World League

RISING STAR TO WATCH

Mohammadjavad Manavinezhad | 20 | Outside Hitter
Iran's third-best scorer and third-best server at World League

SYNOPSIS

Playing in its first-ever Olympic Games, Iran qualified as the top Asian team at the World Olympic Qualifier where it finished second overall behind Poland. It finished the tournament with a 6-1 record losing only to Canada in five sets.

The Iranian team emerged as a high-level program back in 2011 and since then it has consistently shown that it can compete in major international tournaments, taking sixth at the 2014 World Championships and eighth at the 2015 World Cup.

Iran's best World League finish took place in 2014 when it lost to Italy in the bronze-medal match to take fourth. This year's World League was a bit disappointing as the Iranian men finished with a 4-5 record and did not advance to the final round.

Iran is currently ranked tenth in the world, but in the past two years it has managed to beat several teams that outrank them including USA, Argentina and Serbia.

PREDICTION

Iran has several high-flying hitters and a large, solid block. When playing well, the Iranian men display a great deal of emotion and can therefore be a bit streaky. This team has come a long way but it is not quite ready to contend with the current top teams for a medal. If Iran can avoid being intimidated by the big stage in Rio, it should beat Cuba, Egypt and possibly Argentina to advance to the quarterfinals, but the medal round is unlikely.