Winless Iran Looking for A Good Finish in 2024 VNL
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran, who has not yet won a single match in the 2024 Volleyball Nations League (VNL), is looking to register its first win in Week 3.
Eight of the world’s strongest men’s volleyball national teams - Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Iran, Japan, the Netherlands and the US– have arrived in Manila to delight the Filipino fans with their matches in competition week three of the men’s 2024 Volleyball Nations League Preliminary Phase, at the end of which all the participants in next week’s VNL Finals in Lodz, Poland will be known.
With six of these teams already booked for the Paris 2024 Olympics and one running a distant shot at qualifying, the spotlights in Manila will fall mainly on the heated race for the berths in the VNL quarterfinals.
Iran will open its week three campaign on Wednesday at 19:00 (11:00) against the US, before facing tough games against Netherlands on Thursday, against France on Friday and against Germany on Saturday.
Iran is the clear underdogs in the pool. It is the only winless team in VNL 2024, trailing in the table on 0-8 and 2, but still holding a mathematical shot at the Finals in Lodz.
The VNL Preliminary Phase features three competition weeks per gender, with each of the 16 teams playing 12 matches. The seven best-ranked national teams in the Preliminary Phase will join hosts Poland for the Finals, which will be held in Lodz from June 27 to 30.