Bangkok, Thailand, July 30, 2021 – Asian champions Iran went down to Italy in dramatic four sets in the Tokyo 2020 volleyball tournament at Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan on Friday, resulting in a do-or-die battle against hosts Japan in their last preliminary Pool A clash on Sunday.
Iran suffered their second defeat on Friday after losing 28-30, 21-25, 25-21, 21-25 to remain on the fifth place at the Pool A standings with 5 points from 2 wins against 2 losses.
Poland and Italy have already secured their quarterfinal berths after similarly claiming 3 wins, with the former bagging 10 points and the latter 8 points. Canada came in third place with 7 points from 2 wins, with Japan and Iran in fourth and fifth places with respective 6 and 5 points from 2 wins against two losses.
With only four teams from each Pool advancing to the quarterfinals, Iran will play their last preliminary match against Japan, with both sides vying for a spot in the quarterfinals.
Iran need a must-win match, no matter what the score, against the Japanese to keep their Olympic hopes alive. A loss in that match will give the Iranians no more chance to make amends and instead, they will crash out of the Tokyo 2020.
On Sunday, Canada are due to go up against world champions Poland, Italy take on winless Venezuela and Iran challenge Japan, the team they had lost in straight sets at the recent FIVB Volleyball Nations League in Rimini, Italy.
Against Italy, silver medallists at the previous Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Iran remained formidable with the likes of talented Yuki Ishikawa, Yuji Nishida and Takahashi Ran, while Osmany Juantorena, Ivan Zaytsev and Alessandro Michieletto spearheaded their majorities of the Italy’s attacks.
Italy, which beat Japan 3-1 in their previous encounter, and Iran engaged in a fiery contest in the first set which saw the leads change hands for several times. At the home stretch, the Italians had their job done better to edge out past the battling Iran 30-28, with tall Michieletto attacking devastatingly to hand his side the last two points.
Going down one set, Iran tried to claw their way back in the second set. However, Italy still performed brilliantly to lead 24-21 and were in jubilant shortly after that when a spike from Milad Ebadipour went to the net. Italy clinched the set 25-21 for 2-0 advantage.
Iran came back on the right track in the third set, battling hard to win the set 25-21, but the Italians took control in the fourth set.
Bagging three points in succession to lead 11-7, Italy continued their dominant form to widen the gap to 17-14 and then 23-20. Iran pulled their game together, hoping for a comeback, but their efforts were to no avail. Italy allowed them only one more point to capture the thrilling set 25-21 and match.
Osmany Juantorena scored a match-high 20 points for Italy, while Ivan Zaytsev and Alessandro Michieletto added 12 points apiece.
Meisam Salehi led Iran with 14 points including 13 attacks, with Milad Ebadipour and Saber Kazemi assisting with 12 points apiece on the team’s losing efforts.
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