Philippines suffers another heartbreak, bows to Iran in 5 sets

Photo by Marc Anthony Reyes/INQUIRER

NAKHON Ratchasima, Thailand — The Philippines suffered another tight loss on Monday night against a higher-ranked opponent in a match where it was in control most of the time.

This time it was the Iranians, who scored a come-from-behind triumph over the Philippines, 27-29, 25-16, 17-25, 25-12, 15-13, in the Asian Volleyball Confederation Asian Cup here.

It was the second straight defeat for the Philippines who also dropped a five-set decision to Australia last Sunday.

Now the Filipinas got relegated to the classification round regardless of their match against Kazakhstan on Tuesday night.

Coach Shaq Delos Santos refused to get interviewed and even hinted at filing a protest over a call late in the fifth set.

But Larong Volleyball sa Pilipinas secretary general Ariel Paredes said they will have to talk about it as a team before making a decision.

At 11-10 Iran leading, the chair umpire gave a point to a hit that went wide. It fell behind Jia Morado which blocked the view of the line judge.

The Philippines still equalized at 12 after that.

“I know that we can’t do anything about it, it was done. But I noticed he was the same referee as last match,” said Delos Santos.

Delos Santos later decided to sign the match results.