Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 15, 2016 – Russia have already qualified for the quarterfinals of Rio 2016, but will hope to continue building momentum against this strong Iranian outfit.
The side were given a scare against world champions Poland on Saturday, surviving a five-set battle despite the best efforts of Bartosz Kurek and company. However, up until that point they had looked dominant, registering wins over Argentina, Egypt and Cuba.
Iran have one win to their name – a 3-0 victory over Cuba on Saturday getting them off the mark. They are still within a chance of reaching the quarterfinals, but will have to dethrone the Olympic champions to qualify, and even then it depends on other results.
Russia took bragging rights when the pair last met at the 2015 World Cup in Japan. On that day they won in straight sets. Iran did beat them last year however, notching up a 3-0 win in the World League. They will need to summon that same belief if they want to continue to be a part of this tournament.