ARGENTINA came back from a two-set deficit to turn back Finland, 19-25, 18-25, 25-22, 25-22, 15-11, at the start of their campaign in the FIBV Men’s World Championship at Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City on Sunday.

Pablo Kukartsev and Luciano Vicentín were the architects of the impressive comeback of world No. 8 Argentina, with the hard-hitting opposite scoring 20 points (16 kills, three blocks, one ace) and the outside hitter adding 19 (18 kills, one block).

“We struggled a lot in the first two sets, but that’s kind of normal as this is the first match in the tournament,” setter Luciano De Cecco said. “We tried very hard to win the match, and we put a lot of effort into it. There’s a lot of weight in the first match of the World Championship, and I believe it makes a big impact on the team’s campaign. A victory in the opening match can take you a long way, and we’re happy that we got it.”

Finland had a more balanced offense and saw four players with double-digit scoring. Opposite Jonas Jokela led the way with a match-high 26, followed by outside hitter Luka Martilla (18) and middle blockers Petteri Tyynismaa (17) and Severi Savonsalmi (11).

“It was a great game,” Martilla said. “I didn’t think we played bad, they were just the better team at the end. We started very well, but couldn’t finish. But today we saw we can compete with the best teams in the world.”

Over at Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City, Egypt stunned world No. 13 Iran, 25-17, 16-25, 25-23, 25-20, in Pool A.

The World No. 23 Africans outperformed their Asian rivals in attack, 52-45, and in serving aces, 8-4.

Egypt’s outside hitters Ahmed Shafik Said and Abdelrahman Elhossiny led the way with 18 and 17 points, respectively, including one ace and one kill block each.

The Philippines will face Egypt on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.

“The key was that everybody on the team — from the youngest player to the oldest, as well as the coaches — did their best in preparing for the game very well. We knew exactly how to play against Iran, to counter their strongest points and play on their weakest points. Everyone did very well and I think this was the key,” Elhossiny said in the post-match interview.

“It was a very good game for us and I hope we continue on this level.”

Back-to-back Olympic champion France was playing South Korea at Araneta Coliseum as of posting time. Defending champion Italy will then debut against Algeria at 9:30 p.m. (FIVB Media)