TEHRAN – Iran national volleyball team lost to Italy 3-1 (30-28, 25-21, 21-25, 25-21) in Pool A of the 2020 Olympic Games on Friday.

Osmany Juantorena earned 20 points for the Italians and Iran’s Meysam Salehi scored 14 points.

Iran will have to defeat Japan on Sunday to book a place in the next round.

The 12 men’s teams are divided into two pools of six teams. Each team will play against the five other teams in the same pool in a single round robin system.

Then the top four teams from each pool will advance to the next phase playing in a knockout system in the quarterfinal, semifinal and final rounds.