Iran’s national under-21 volleyball team has trounced Italy in straight sets at the 2017 Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) Volleyball Men's U21 World Championship in the Czech Republic.
On Friday evening, the Persians sealed their first win of the tournament by seeing off the European squad 3-0 (25-22, 25-19 and 25-21) in a Pool C match played at the Budvar Arena in the southern Czech city of České Budějovice.
The Iranians started the match with vim and vigor, and dug and spiked effectively throughout the first set. They went ahead and won it 25-22.
The Iranian team kept its dominant performance in the second set of the game with some good attacks, and took it 25-19.
Iranians stood firm against their rivals in the last set and powered through to claim it by 25 points to 21.
Italy’s Pinali Giulio was named the top scorer of the match with 12 points. Rasoul Aghchehli was Iran's top scorer with 11.
“This match was hard and yes we won but we don’t pay a lot of attention to it. Tomorrow will be another difficult one against Ukraine,” Iran’s head coach Behrouz Ataei said.
Iran’s captain Rasoul Aghchehli said, “It was a good match for us. We had a very good analytical tactic. The Italians are a good team in Europe with a great system and tactic but today we proved to be stronger.”
“The first match is always hard but today I’m disappointed with my team, they lost their focus on the service. It is important to play with confidence and strength. Tomorrow is another day but tonight I will have a talk with my team for an hour or two,” Italy’s head coach Michele Totire commented.