Iran Not Lucky Enough against Italy: Saeid Marouf

Italy pulled off a sensational comeback from two sets down to beat Iran national volleyball team 3-2 (25-27, 27-29, 30-28, 25-17, 15-13) at Hiroshima Green Arena.

“I think everybody in the hall enjoyed watching the game because both teams fought for every point. It was a strange day in our sport - in the second set they had a chance to close the set and lost that chance; in the third set we had the chance to close the set and the match but we lost that chance. After that they started to serve strong and received much better than the first three sets. In the fifth set, the tie-break, it was 15-13," Marouf said.

“There’s nothing to say, just it was a good fight. Game number 10, again a tie-break, we’re so tired and don’t have a lot of players on the bench to help the team. It’s important that we tried our best. We were not lucky enough today but I think we are satisfied,” he stated.

Also, Iran coach Igor Kolakovic said the match against Italy was really a tough game.

“First of all, congratulations to the Italian team for the victory. It was a really tough game. Maybe Italy deserved to win the first set, but for sure we deserved to win the third. But it was a really tough game and dramatic to the end. It was a really big game and congratulations again to my colleague for this victory,” Kolakovic said.