Serbia earns Olympic ticket by defeating Iran 3-0 – Volleyball news
Serbia and Iran, the two top ranking teams of the FIVB Men’s Olympic Qualification Tournament met each other on June 9th, 2012 in Tokyo at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium in a match which was to determine the team that would be qualifying for the London
2012 Olympic Games which are to start from July 27th.
Interestingly, the match did not stretch on to five sets but ended in three instead with the Serbians finally getting their hands on the Olympic qualifier ticket. However, each of the three sets of the match was highly competitive and thrilling. The score
board showed the following final set scores: 30-28, 30-28 and 25-22.
The coach of the Serbian team, Igor Kolakovic, expressed his pleasure at the victory in the following words, “I’m happy because we managed our great goal, which is the Olympic Games. We played against a very good Iran team, and it was tough, especially in
the first two sets.”
On the other hand, the Iranian coach Julio Velasco, commented at the outcome of the match in the following manner, “First, I want to congratulate Serbia for their victory and qualification for the Olympic Games. They demonstrated they are the best team in
this competition and one of the best teams in the world...We have to learn from them and play the important moments with a clear mind.”
Even though his team lost the match, Amir Ghafour of Iran was able to earn the title of the highest scorer of the match by putting up a total of 17 points. On the other hand, the top scorer of the Serbian side was Milos Nikic with 14 points.
The Serbians took the lead at the start of the opening set but Iran got the score level at 8-8. However, the Serbians came back in action and stretched their advantage to 14-10. Iran was able to pull up again at 19-17 and the frame went back and forth for
quite a while till Serbia finally nailed it at 30-28.
The second set followed the same trend with the Serbians succeeding at 30-28. The third set was a bit less challenging as Serbia was able to settle the score on their terms at 25-22.
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