Defending champion Brazil started its journey at the Beijing Olympics with an easy sweep of Egypt in Beijing on Sunday.

The World No.1 brushed aside the African champion 25-19, 25-15 and 25-18 at the Capital Gymnasium in a pool B match Sunday afternoon.

"We started very strong then we didn't see too much resistance from Egypt, so we started playing more for ourselves to fix the things we need to fix," said Gilberto Filho Godoy, who had nine smashes and three blocks for game-high 12 points for Brazil.

"It's been very important to win this game, this match has really been a good start," he added.

The Athens Games champion will meet much tougher challenge against Serbia in its second preliminary match scheduled for Tuesday.

"The next match will be totally different," Dante Amaral, who made seven kills in 10 attempts to score seven points for Brazil, predicted. "They are very good at blocking and serving and we must make fewer mistakes and do better in counter-attack."

"Our next match against Serbia is the real start of our Olympic Games," he added.

Earlier on Sunday, Italy beat Japan 25-19, 25-18, 23-25 and 25-17.

(Xinhua News Agency August 10, 2008)