Iran, counting on the home support to carry them to a victory, lost hopes with Italy’s straight-set victory (25-20, 25-20, 25-21) on Saturday night at the 12,000-seat hall of Tehran’s Azadi Sport Complex.
Iran’s team leader Raul Lozano used a combination of Saeed Marouf, Milad Ebadipour, Shahram Mahmoudi, Seyed Mohammad Mousavi, Mohammad Javad Manavinejad, Adel Gholami and Mehdi Marandi against his country’s team.
Italy, filled with motivation to win the game, stood with all forces against Iranian team gaining many points with straight-set victory.
This is the eighth time Iran and Italy have clashed in the World League and the first time since 2014. Italy have won four of the previous seven World League meetings.
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