Iran

Captain Alireza Nadi: It was a good match. Two months ago Egypt defeated us twice 3-0 in Egypt. They have good players and a good coach and are a professional team, so I am happy to win this game.

Coach Hossein Madani: It was a very difficult match for us because two months ago, as the captain said, we lost two matches in Egypt 3-0. Mentally we had a big problem because the players were thinking of revenge, so I tried to make them just focus on their performance. They did their best and it was a good start for us.

Egypt

Captain Hamdy El Safy: Today we did not play very well. We played well only in the first and fourth sets and had some problems in our block and our set. We must concentrate for the next match of the tournament.

Coach Antonio Giacobbe: Congratulations to Iran. They played a very good match. I said yesterday that I thought they were a very strong team. They lost the first set but after that they were able to come back in the game. My team made some big mistakes because we did not risk our service so much, and that allowed them to gain more confidence and play better. Each team played two good sets, and in the tiebreak every time one ball can decide the difference between the two teams.