Poland have been on a great run in the past decade and now they will be taking aim at winning Olympic gold, a medal they last won 45 years ago at Montreal.
Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 - Volleyball
World champions take shot at Olympic gold
The matchups to watch out for on opening day
Published 12:34, 23 Jul 2021
The European powerhouse are coming off a stellar pre-Olympic event showing of silver at the 2021 FIVB Volleyball Nations League, and before the pandemic began, they also finished second at the 2019 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Cup in Japan.
On top of these achievements, Poland have shown their supremacy in men’s volleyball with back-to-back world championship titles.
At the Olympic Games, the reigning world champions will start their campaign against Iran on Saturday at 19.40.
Poland will rely on the power game of captain Michal Kubiak and wingmen Bartosz Kurek and Wilfredo Leon, while Iran will try to counter that with the well-orchestrated plays of Saied Marouf for his young hitters Meisam Salehi and Saber Kazemi.
Poland and Iran are in Pool A with hosts Japan, Italy, Canada and Venezuela.
Another match to look out for in Pool B is the clash of two former VNL silver medal finishers that is sure to deliver a lot of excitement. The United States and France go head-to-head at 21.45 with squads reinforced by veterans and promising young stars.
USA and France are grouped with Brazil, ROC, Argentina and Tunisia.
Meanwhile, Japan are chasing Olympic glory at home and will be aiming for a winning start against Venezuela at 14.20.
The Japanese team have high-flying wingmen like Yuki Ishikawa and Yuji Nishida, and they also have a lot of youthful standouts like Ran Takahashi and Tatsunori Otsuka.
But Venezuela is likewise expected to step up especially because they are making their return after skipping two Olympic cycles.
The 2016 gold and silver medallists will play the first two matches on opening day. Silver medallists Italy will play the first match at 09.00 against Canada, followed by Brazil starting their Olympic title defence against Tunisia at 11.05. ROC are scheduled to play Argentina at 14.20.