HANGZHOU, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- Iran, winner of the past two editions, swept Qatar 3-0 here on Monday and will contend with China in the men's volleyball final of the Hangzhou Asian Games.

Amirhossein Esfandiar had 14 kills, two blocks and three aces to lead the Iranians' scoring with 19 points in a 25-20, 25-20 and 25-22 victory.

Iran reaped 41 points from attacking, compared to 32 for Qatar. Iran also led in aces at six to one.

"Today, our side-out worked really well, and our service caused problems for their attack," said Iranian setter Mohammadtaher Vadi, adding he is ready for the final.

Later in the other semifinal, China claimed a 25-15, 25-20 and 25-21 victory over Japan, who was playing with its second-string squad.

Zhang Jingyin led China with 20 points, and Peng Shikun and Li Yongzhen added nine and eight respectively.

"We have made very good preparations for this match while it turned out to be surprisingly smooth for us," said China's captain Jiang Chuan, who scored six points. "Our middle blockers did a great job today and our serving, receiving and blocking were also pretty good, I think that's the key to our victory."

The gold medal match is slated for Tuesday evening. Enditem

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