Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 17, 2016 - The third semifinalist of the men’s volleyball tournament at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games will be determined in a quarterfinal clash between Italy and Iran at the Maracanazinho on Wednesday.
This will be the 15th time these two teams meet on the global stage, but the first time the play against each other at Olympic Games. Italy have won nine and lost five of the matches against Iran so far. They have won the last three matches against this Asian opponent in straight sets.
The most recent encounter between Iran and Italy took place earlier this summer, on July 2, in Tehran. In an FIVB Volleyball World League game the visiting Europeans crushed the home side with a 3-0 (25-20, 25-20, 25-21) shutout.
Italy won four and lost one (against Canada) of their matches in Pool A to finish on top of the pool standings with a total of 12 points.
They have two players in the top 10 of the current Best Scorers chart of the tournament. Osmany Juantorena is fifth with 72 points and Ivan Zaytsev – sixth with 71.
Iran started off at Rio 2016 with two consecutive defeats, but then came back with two straight-set victories to finish fourth in Pool B with a 2-3 win-loss ratio and qualify for the quarterfinals.
Their best scorer Shahram Mahmoudi is tenth among the best scorers of the pool stage with 65 points. Iran’s Seyed Mohammad Mousavi Eraghi tops the Best Blockers ranking with an average of 1.18 kill blocks per set. His teammate, libero Mahdi Marandi, leads the Best Receivers chart with a 53.09% success rate.