Warsaw, July 18 -- China suffered a straight-sets defeat against Iran in the FIVB Men's Volleyball Nations League preliminary phase in Gdansk, Poland, on Thursday.
Morteza Sharifi led Iran with a game-high 15 points, while Amirhossein Esfandiar contributed 12. China's captain Jiang Chuan scored 11 points, with middle blocker Li Yongzhen just one point fewer.
In the opening set, China proved to be a challenging opponent, as Jiang's spike gave them an 18-16 lead, but Roberto Piazza's team leveled at 19-19, thanks to Sharifi's ace.
Ji Daoshuai's service error and Amin Esmaeilnezhad's effective attack put Iran ahead on 24-22, but China fought hard to the end and managed to tie at 24-24 with Ji and Wang Bin's efforts, before Iran capita...