Italy edged strong Iran 3-2 (25 - 27, 27 - 29, 30 - 28, 25 - 17, 15 - 13) in a thrilling encounter.
Igor kolakovic’s men saught to regain confidence spirit after yesterday’s loss against their Asian archrival Japan as they won the first two sets but it was Italy that conducted fewer errors in the tree remaining sets.
Dick Kooy led the scoring for Italy with a match-high 28 points while Milad Ebadipour scored 23 for the 2019 Asian Champion.
This was the sixth defeat of Iran in the event while the team has gained four victories. The team now stands 7th in the table with 12 points. Brazil leads the table with nine wins while Poland and USA stand next.
Team Melli will lock horns with the World Champion Poland on Tuesday as their final match of the competitions.
The two-week long event kicked off on October 1 in Japan with 12 teams competing in a round-robin format.
MAH