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Brazil, Russia off to winning start in Olympic men' s volleyball

Xinhua, August 8, 2016 Adjust font size:

Brazil and defending Olympic champions Russia both got off to winning start in the men' s volleyball competitions of the Rio Games kicking off here on Sunday.

Wallace de Souza notched 18 points to lead the hosts rally past Mexico 23-25, 25-19, 25-14 and 25-18 in their first pool A match. Ricardo Lucarelli and Lucas Saatkamp added 17 and 13 points respectively.

"It is normal to be anxious. After we had lost the first set we wanted to get to the normal volleyball we play, but our team is not yet at 100%," said Evandro M. Guerra, who came from the bench to score six points for Brazil. "The fans were really helpful. We did silly mistakes but we got better after the second set and we were more confident."

"Mexico played well but the Brazilian team made a lot of mistakes," said Souza. "Our service was not effective in the first set. Normally we serve well but today (it) was not really good."

Also in pool A, Canada hammered World Cup title holders the United States 25-23, 25-17 and 25-23 and Italy swept France 25-20, 25-20 and 25-15.

"Do we expect to take the United States three zero? No," said Gavin Schmitt, who scored 13 points for Canada. ""You never expect a victory quite like that. It's certainly right up there. It would be tough to compare beating the USA in my first Olympic Games with anything."

In pool B, world champions Poland eased past Egypt 25-18, 25-20 and 25-17 and Russia overcame Cuba 25-17, 25-19, 22-25 and 25-18. Maxim Mikhaylov led the Russians with 16 points. Endit