Australia stays unbeaten in FIVB Men's World Olympic Qualifying Tournament after defeating Iran
Australia played against Iran on June 5, which was the third day of the FIVB Men's World Olympic Qualifying Tournament. The match was being hosted by Tokyo, Japan while the venue of the competition was the Tokyo Metropolitan Gym.
The match ended with a win for Australia at 3-1 which enabled them to further strengthen themselves in the competition as Australia is currently going without any loss. On the other hand, it was the first defeat that the Iranian team faced, having won the
previous two matches. The score board showed the following final set scores after the Australian win: 17-25, 25-18, 25-18 and 25-23.
Jon Uriarte, the Australian coach, expressed his satisfaction at the win in the following words, “We played very well. It started with our serve and we used our strategy to win several key points. Iran plays an attack system that has been tough for other
teams in this tournament. We were able to work well against it.”
On the other hand, the Iranian coach Julio Velasco, shared his views by giving the following comments, “Australia played a good match. We started well in the first set. In the second set we made some mistakes early and Australia began gaining confidence.
They showed good blocking and defence. Our system was not working.”
The player that was able to stand out as the top scorer of the match was Edgar Thomas from the Australian side as he put up a total of 24 points. Thomas was helped by teammate Adam White who helped in keeping the pressure on the Iranians by scoring 22 points.
On the other hand, Mohammad Mousavi of Iran kept the score board ticking by scoring 15 points.
Iran had the first lead in the opening set at 5-2 but by the first technical time out the Australians were leading at 8-3.
However, Iran took control again and got the lead at 17-11 and put up a good show that earned them the first frame at 25-17.
The loss of the first set made the Australians come out stronger in the second and the third sets both of which were secured by them at 25-18. The Iranians did a gallant effort on the fourth set but could not avoid a loss at 23-25.
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