“I am so happy now, I can not say anything”, said Iran captain Mir Saeid Marouflakrani, who leads the tournament with a 9.42 average set rate.
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Both teams’ Olympic hopes were hanging in the balance in the fourth with Canada needing at least a point from the game and China knowing it couldn’t allow it to go to five sets.
Earlier, Antonin Rouzier scored 17 points in just three sets of court time to help France beat Venezuela and advance to their first Olympic Games since 2004.
“They can learn that they can come back against China, against Australia, and it will make them better volleyball players, and better people too”. “It was really a team effort”. I saw the way they responded so well to all the challenges that were presented to them. “I am proud of this achievement”.
Gord Perrin of Creston, B.C., led the way with 25 points in the attack and one block while Gavin Schmitt, of Grande Prairie, Alta., had 23 points, including a few late ace serves.
Australia needed to beat Poland – who’d already qualified for the Games and had rested many of their top players – to move ahead of Canada on the qualification table and secure the last Olympic spot.
However, the No. 2 ranked squad from Poland dispatched Australia in straight sets (25-21, 25-15, 27-25), guaranteeing that the men’s Olympic volleyball tournament would have some Canadian content for the first time since 1992.
France dipped deep into its bench rotation, but Japan did not mind, using this opportunity to take its second win of the week.
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Iran defeated Poland 3-1 (25-20, 25-18, 20-25, 34-32) at the Men’s World Olympic Qualification Tournament at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium on Saturday and achieved its first-ever Olympic qualification. Five points away from losing the set, China outscored Canada 11-4 in the last 15 points of the set.
