TEHRAN – Iran suffered their second loss in Pool B of the 2019 FIVB Volleyball Boys' U19 World Championship Sunday night.

The defending champions, who were defeated against Czech Republic, lost to Italy 3-1 (25-16, 25-18, 24-26, 25-11).

Both teams were already assured of a spot in the knockout stage.

It took Iran three set balls in the third to take it and stay alive, but Italy came back in full force to close the match in four.

Tommaso Stefani with 23 points led Italy, though it was the European side's blocking with 16 aces, including six each from Nicola Cianciotta and Paolo Porro that made the difference.

Amirreza Sarlak was Iran’s top scorer with 13 points.

Amirhossein Tukhteh was forced to leave the field due to foot injury in the first set and will likely miss the competition.

Iran will play Cuba in the tournament’s last-16 on Tuesday.

The 2019 edition of the FIVB Volleyball Boys' U19 World Championship features 20 teams playing across four pools from August 21 to 30.