The Slovenian national volleyball team, our opponent in the group stage of the World Championship in the Philippines, suffered a defeat in their penultimate warm-up match before the start of the tournament. Fabio Soli's team lost to Iran with a score of 1:3 (32:34, 23:25, 23:25, 26:24) in Manila.

The Slovenians arrived in the Philippine capital on Sunday, after previously holding a training camp in Japan, where they played two control matches against a local club. The match against Iran was their first more serious test on Asian soil.

Captain Tine Urnaut admitted to the federation's website that the team still has reserves and is yet to improve its game:
"This was our first stronger test in a long time. We saw that we need more patience and development in all elements. We are capable of playing at a higher level and we need to take the next step."

Middle blocker Jan Kozamernik was even more critical:
"We played a poor match against a weakened Iran. We didn't show energy and motivation. I hope this is just a bad day, but if we play like this, we will have serious problems right from the first match against Chile."

Tomorrow, the Slovenians will play their last warm-up match against Argentina – the current holder of the Hubert Wagner Memorial trophy. After that, they await the start of the World Championship in Group E – their first opponent will be Chile on September 13th. Bulgaria will face Slovenia on September 15th.

photos: OZS