The hosts beat Argentina 3-1 in Tehran outscoring their opponents by 99 points to 77.

The first set went to Iran 25-21 before being pegged back by Argentina in the second set which ended 26-24.

Following this mild scare, Iran then put itself into the driving seat by winning 25-19 in the third and annihilating the South Americans 25-11 in the fourth set.

Iran will be met by Poland in the next round following a comprehensive victory over Germany.

The match was closer than the score suggests however as Poland won 25-19, 25-23, 28-26 with their neighbours taking the final two sets to the wire.

Bulgaria eventually overcame Italy 3-2 in a back-and-forth fixture as it stole the victory in the fifth set.

The Italians opened by taking the first set 27-25 before Bulgaria replicated the score in its favour to win the second.

Italy then won the third set 25-21 before being pegged back once more in a gruelling 31-29 fourth set defeat.

That had clearly knocked the wind out of the Italians as they fell 18-16 in the final set to lose the match despite leading twice.

Russia upset the tournament's all-time most successful team, Brazil, in a routine 3-0 performance.

The Russians began with a 25-19 opening set victory before fending off a strong fightback 27-25 from the six-times champions.

Russia put the nail in the coffin with a 25-15 trouncing in the third set to set up a semi-final showdown with Belarus.

The ninth to 16^th place quarter-finals also took place.

Czech Republic beat Thailand 3-1 while Egypt defeated fellow African team Nigeria by the same scoreline.

Belgium defeated Colombia 3-0 while India progressed through a 3-0 defeat of Cuba.