TOKYO – After yesterday’s winning debut against Canada, for the men’s national team Gianlorenzo Blengini now there is the important challenge to the two world champions of Poland who yesterday were beaten at the tie-break by Iran.
The match is scheduled at 2.20 pm local time; 7.20 in Italy. Two precedents between the two teams at the Games with a balance of a victory (3-2 in Beijing 2008) and a defeat for the Azzurri (3-1 in London 2012).
In total, however, there are 79 precedents with 32 Italian victories and 47 defeats.
The first day of the men’s draw showed immediately how the level of the tournament is very high with unpredictable results around the corner. In the Azzurri’s pool, the biggest surprise was Iran, which surprised Poland by winning a balanced and important tie-break. In the other match of the day, however, the hosts had no problems against Venezuela.
In the other group, on the other hand, the United States did well, clearly overtaking Tillie’s France; well also Russia that after having struggled and lost a set against Argentina has won the whole stake; the Brazilian Olympic champions complete the picture, who have easily liquidated Tunisia.
Results matchday one – July 24th
Pool A: Italia – Canada 3-2 (26-28, 18-25, 25-21, 25-18, 15-11)
Pool B: Brazil 3-0 Tunisia (25-22, 25-20, 25-15)
Pool B: ROC – Argentina 3-1 (21-25, 25-23, 25-17, 25-21)
Pool A: Japan 3-0 Venezuela (25-21, 25-20, 25-15)
Pool A: Polonia – Iran 2-3 (25-18, 22-25, 22-25, 25-22, 21-23)
Pool B: USA 3-0 France (25-18, 25-18, 25-22)
Charts
Pool A: Japan 1v (3p), Italy 1v (2p), Iran 1v (2p), Poland 0v (1p), Canada 0v (1p), Venezuela 0v
Pool B: Brazil, USA, ROC 1v (3p), Argentina, France, Tunisia 0v
