Tokyo Olympics Men's Volleyball: Brazil prevails over fighting US

The defending champion jumped to second spot with eight points in pool B behind ROC after surviving a strong fight from the United States on Friday.

With the victory, Brazil moved into the second spot in Pool B, with eight points from four games, one behind the Russian Olympic Committee.

Defending champion Brazil showed its class against a fighting United States in an engrossing battle in men’s volleyball at the Araike Arena on Friday. Brazil won 30-32, 25-23, 25-21, 25-20 in two hours and twenty minutes.

After claiming the first set, which lasted 44 minutes, the Americans stretched the gold medallist from Rio in the second too. But Brazil came back strongly and did not allow its rival to take the match to a fifth set. With the victory, Brazil moved into the second spot in Pool B, with eight points from four games, one behind the Russian Olympic Committee, which has played a game less. The US is lying third with six points from four games.

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The results (preliminary league): Men: Pool A: Canada bt Venezuela 25-13, 25-22, 25-12; Poland bt Japan 25-22, 25-21, 26-24; Italy bt Iran 30-28, 25-21, 21-25, 25-21. Pool B: Brazil bt United States 30-32, 25-23, 25-21, 25-20; Argentina bt Tunisia 23-25, 23-25, 25-19, 25-18, 15-8. Beach Volleyball: Men: Pool C:  Adrian Heidrich & Mirco Gerson (SWI) bt Enrico Rossi & Adrian Ignacio Carambula Raurich (ITA) 21-14, 24-26, 15-13.

Pool E: Marco Grimalt & Esteban Grimalt (CHL) bt Mohammed Abicha & Zouheir Elgraoui (MOR) 21-14, 21-12; Evandro Goncalves Oliveira Junior & Bruno Oscar Schmidt (BRA) bt Michal Bryl & Grzegorz Fijalek (POL) 19-21, 21-14, 17-15. Pool F: Paolo Nicolai & Daniele Lupo (ITA) bt Piotr Kantor & Batosz Losiak (POL) 21-19, 17-21, 15-10. Women: Pool B:  April Ross & Alix Klineman (USA) bt Sanne Keizer & Madeline Meppelink (NED) 20-22, 21-17, 15-5; Xue Chen & Wang Xinxin (CHN) bt Liliana Fernandez Steiner & Elsa Baquerizo McMillan (ESP ) 21-13, 21-10. Pool E: Nadezda Makroguzova & Svetlana Kholomina (RUS) bt Mariafe Artacho del Solar & Taliqua Clancy (AUS) 21-8, 21-15, 15-12; Lidianny Echevarria Benitez & Leila Consuelo Martinez-Ortega (CUB)  bt Marta Menegatti & Viktoria Orsi Toth 21-16, 21-16.