TEHRAN – Iran came from behind to beat Canada 3-1 (18-25, 25-23, 27-25, 25-19) at Nagano White Ring arena to register their first win at the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) Men's World Cup on Friday.

Aliasghar Mojarad scored 15 points for Iran, while Sharone Vernon-Evans had 25 points for Canada.

Iran, who had lost to Russia and Egypt in the first two matches, are scheduled to meet Australia on Saturday.

“After two defeats this was a really important victory for us because our confidence was down a little bit. After the first set we started to play with our energy and I’m so happy because some players showed their quality, especially players from the bench and the young players who are really the future of Iranian volleyball. I hope that we can keep this kind of energy for the next games,” Iran coach Igor Kolakovic said at the post-match press conference.

The 2019 FIVB Volleyball Men's World Cup is the 14th staging of the FIVB Volleyball Men's World Cup, contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB), the sport's global governing body. The tournament is being held in Japan from Oct. 1 to 15.

Japan played hosts for this event for the twelfth consecutive time since 1977.

This is the first time since 1989 that FIVB decided not to allocate any spots in the Olympics, due to Japan hosting the 2020 Summer Olympics.