Former Bulgaria coach Camillo Placi and his Tunisia suffered a painful 1:3 (25:23, 20:25, 23:25, 16:25) defeat to Iran in a match from the Asian-African groupAof the World Championship in the Philippines. Tunisia took a set lead, and was close to taking the lead again after losing the initiative in the third part. In the last set, Roberto Piazza's boys left no doubt that they were the better team on the court.
Thus, the North Africans made their task of qualifying for the eliminations even harder, given that the hosts and Egypt are also in the group.

Currently, three teams have an equal number of points, but an eventual victory for Egypt over the Philippines would place them solely at the top. The decisive matches are upcoming on Thursday: Iran against the hosts, a match which the "Persians" are unlikely to lose, and Tunisia against Egypt. The North African derby will decide the final standings in the group.

Match Statistics

Iran dominated in attack and especially on serve – 10 aces against just 2 for Tunisia. Blocking was even, but better attack (55:46) gave the initiative to the Iranians. A total difference of 14 points indicates control over the match in key moments.

Game Performance

Tunisia surprised with better reception (78 successful plays against 69), but this was not capitalized on. Iran compensated with more saved balls in defense and greater activity in setting, which resulted in a more effective attack.

Top Scorers

The Iranians' leadership in attack is clear Alex Nikolov's former Lube teammate Porya and Morteza accumulated a total of 39 points, almost as many as Tunisia's entire starting lineup. The North Africans distributed their scoring more evenly, but the lack of a prominent leader proved to be an obstacle.
Former Beroe player, Tunisian Ben Taher, finished with one point.