Cuba beats Iran in Men's U21 World Volleyball Championship

HAVANA, Cuba, Jun 27 (acn) Cuba defeated Iran in the first round for Group E in the 19th edition of the Men's U21 World Volleyball Championship in the Czech city of Brno.

According to the website of the contest, Cuba won 3-2 (25-22, 25-23, 19-25, 13-25 and 15-8) with highlight for Osniel Melgarejo, leading scorer of the match with 20 points, and Miguel Angel Lopez (16), while Rasoul Hyhchehi (18) and Esmheil Mosaferdashliboroun (18) stood out for the losing side.
The key to the success of the team coached by Nicolas Vives was in the blocking and opponent errors, with favorable balance of 17-10 and 28-31, as Iran was batter in the attack (59-45) and service (6-4).
Cuba will play tomorrow against China and a day later versus Poland.
Poland beat China 3-2 (25-13, 18-25, 23-25, 25-18 and 15-8) in the other match of Group E.
Meanwhile in Poole F, Russia and Brazil won both 3-1 (25-23, 25-15, 27-29, 25-19) and (25-15, 19-25, 25-23, 25-16) over Argentina and Canada respectively.
The Czech Republic, Italy, United States and Egypt in Poole G, and Turkey, Japan, Morocco and Ukraine (H) fight for seats from 9th to 16th.
Yesterday, Italians, Turks, Egyptians and Japanese beat 3-0, 3-1, 3-0 and 3-1 Americans, Ukrainians, Czechs and Moroccans, in that order.
In the first round, Poland led Poole A, followed by Canada, Czech Republic and Morocco, while Russia ranked first in Group B, escorted by Cuba, Turkey and the United States.
Iran topped Poole C, ahead of Argentina, Italy and Ukraine, while Brazil led Group D, followed by China, Japan and Egypt.