The Asian Champions won the Bronze Medal match 5:0 against Australia, and became the first non-European team to win a podium position at the Indoor Hockey World Cup, held in Berlin, Germany. Sasan Hatami Nejad won the Best Goalkeeper Award and Reza Norouzzadeh ended as the third highest scorer of the tournament.

Navid Taherirad netted Iran’s opener nearly a quarter into the game; and Reza Norouzzadeh doubled Iran’s lead in the 19th minute. After Hamid Nooranian jabbed the team’s third goal, Norouzzadeh was on target twice again, completing a hat trick in the span of just 21 minutes.

Austria beat Germany 3-2 in the penalty shoot-out and shattered the hosts’ championship hopes, after both teams were tied 3-3 at full time. The Netherlands were the reigning champions, but did not qualify to defend their title.

Ranked currently 7th in the world, Iran lost one match (the semi final against Germany, world number 1), out of a total of 8 matches played at the event. They drew against Austria (world number 2 and Indoor Hockey World Cup 2018 Champions), won against Russia (world number 4), and against Czech Republic (world number 6).

BERLIN – Indoor Hockey World Cup Bronze: Iran – Australia Iran won the 3rd place. foto: WORLDSPORTPICS COPYRIGHT FRANK UIJLENBROEK BERLIN – Indoor Hockey World Cup Bronze: Iran – Australia Iran won. foto: Iran celebrates their win. WORLDSPORTPICS COPYRIGHT FRANK UIJLENBROEK BERLIN – Indoor Hockey World Cup Bronze: Iran – Australia Iran won the 3rd place. foto: NOORANIAN Hamid. WORLDSPORTPICS COPYRIGHT FRANK UIJLENBROEK BERLIN – Indoor Hockey World Cup Bronze: Iran – Australia foto: WORLDSPORTPICS COPYRIGHT FRANK UIJLENBROEK BERLIN – Indoor Hockey World Cup Bronze: Iran – Australia Iran won the 3rd place. foto: NOORANIAN Hamid. WORLDSPORTPICS COPYRIGHT FRANK UIJLENBROEK BERLIN – Indoor Hockey World Cup Bronze: Iran – Australia foto: NOROUZZADEH Reza. WORLDSPORTPICS COPYRIGHT FRANK UIJLENBROEK BERLIN – Indoor Hockey World Cup Bronze: Iran – Australia Iran won the 3rd place. foto: WORLDSPORTPICS COPYRIGHT FRANK UIJLENBROEK Iranian team holding their bronze medals at the 2018 Men’s Indoor Hockey World Cup in Berlin, Germany. Photo source: asiahockey.org

Iranian squad

Behdad Biranvand, Yaghoub Bahrami, Abbas Aruei, Amir Aruei, Hamid Nouraniyan, Alireza Chezani Sharahi, Behnam Fardi, Mohsen Bohlouli, Mohammad Asnaashari, Reza Norouzzadeh, Sasan Hataminejad and Navid Taherirad. Head coach: Esfandiar Safaei

Sources: Payvand News of Iran, International Hockey Federation, Asian Hockey Federation, Wikipedia