The brilliant run of the Indian men’s volleyball team has ended in the final, losing to a much higher-ranked Iranian team at the CAVA Nations League in Fergana, Uzbekistan, on Wednesday.

The top-seeded Iranian team, which is ranked 15th in the world, made the light work (25-17, 25-20, 25-19) of the inexperienced Indian team, which was playing in an international event after two years.

India had a win over Iran in the group stage, but this time they could not offer much of a challenge to the second-best team in Asia, failing to complete many of their defensive blocks on net.

Despite being the unseeded team, India made full use of their debut campaign and reached the final with four back-to-back wins, including the tight wins over Pakistan and Kazakhstan in the second stage.

As the senior competition concludes, all eyes will now turn to the CAVA U16 Boys’ Volleyball Championship and U19 Men’s Volleyball Championship, both starting on June 10 in Tashkent.

The U16 event will feature six teams – Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, UZB1, and UZB2, while the U19 competition will see participation from India, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, UZB1, and UZB2.