Bandar Torkaman, Iran, October 1, 2019 - Peiman Dargahi/Vahid Nikoufar of Iran and Piotr Groszek/Pawel Lewandowski of Poland posted seed-break-through wins here Tuesday by upsetting the top two ranked pairs in the US$5,000 Bandar Torkaman qualifier to advance to the 16-team main draw.
The eighth-seeded Dargahi and Nikoufar posted two wins Tuesday highlighted by a 2-0 (21-13, 21-13) victory in 31 minutes over top-seeded Peter Lundgren/Jakob Wijk Tegenrot of Sweden. Seeded seventh in the qualifier, Groszek and Lewandowski scored a 2-1 (23-21, 13-21, 15-11) victory in 47 minutes over second-seeded Keisuke Shimizu/Hideki Yoshida of Japan.
Iran also secured two more berths via the qualifier for Wednesday's opening pool play rounds as third-seeded Kalteh Kambiz/Rasoul Yamrali defeated sixth-seeded compatriots Sina Enayati/Amir Shoushtarizadeh 2-0 (21-11, 21-13) in 37 minutes and fourth-seeded Bahman Gholipoury/Aghamohammad Salagh posted a 2-1 (19-21, 21-13, 15-12) triumph over fifth-seeded Jedrzej Brozyniak/Piotr Janiak of Poland in 48 minutes.
With Bandar Torkaman hosting an FIVB World Tour event for the second-straight season, Wednesday's schedule will determine the field for Thursday's 12-team elimination bracket where four pairs will advance to Friday's semifinals and medal matches.
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The Bandar Torkaman event is the first tournament on the 2019-2020 FIVB World Tour calendar and launches the second season of qualifying events for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Following this week's event, the next FIVB World Tour event will be at the end of October as the last four 2019 tournaments will be competitions in China (Qinzhou, October 30-November 3), Israel (Tel Aviv, November 6-9), Qatar (Doha, November 12-15) and Mexico (Chetumal, November 13-17).