World champions Italy beat Brazil 3-1 and start ahead in Pool B

Men's volleyball heavyweights Italy and Brazil met in the second match of the opening day of the Paris 2024 Olympics and the Europeans started their campaign in a great way, beating the South Americans 3-1 (25-23, 25-23, 18-25, 25-21) and securing a critical first victory in the Pool B of the tournament.

The triumph at the South Paris Arena 1 earned the reigning world champions their first three points in the tournament and also moved them up to second place in the FIVB World Rankings, passing Japan with their new total of 352.76 points. Brazil dropped 7.37 points with the defeat, but remain in seventh place with 309.05.

Yuri Romanò led the Italian victory as the opposite produced 20 points (17 kills, two aces, one block) in the match. Outside hitters Alessandro Michieletto and Daniele Lavia also got to double digits, with 13 and 12-point-performances respectively.

“It’s an amazing result because today it was very difficult for us,” setter and captain Simone Giannelli said. “Brazil are a very experienced team and they know how to start a tournament like this. We have the youngest squad in Paris and it was a little bit difficult to get it going. But I liked our approach and was happy that we played good volleyball against a very strong opponent. We are focused on what we have to do in each match and now we focus on Egypt and Poland because the Olympics are very difficult.”

With 13 blocks to Brazil’s four, the Italians dominated the net - they also led in aces (five to four), but finished behind in kills (45 to 56).

Brazilian opposite Darlan de Souza didn’t shy away from the first Olympic match of his career, standing out offensively for the South Americans with a match-high 25 points (23 kills, one block, one ace). Outside hitters Yoandy Leal and Ricardo Lucarelli also had productive shifts, with 15 and 14 points respectively.

“I’m used to playing these teams in the VNL, so there wasn’t a lot of pressure on my side,” Darlan commented. “But I’m obviously disappointed that we started with a defeat as it really complicates our situation in the pool. Our next match against Poland will be huge and we’ll need to be aggressive and go for the win. I actually thought we played well today for the most part, but maybe we came up a bit short in the deciding moments and that's something we have to improve, myself included.”

Brazil jumped right ahead 4-1 in the first set with an inch-perfect ace from Leal and added another point to their lead when Darlan scored 10-6 swinging from the right. A good Italian run brought the difference down to a single point at 12-11, which put them in a position to later even the score at 19 with a stop by middle blocker Roberto Russo and take the lead 21-20 with a spike from Michieletto. An Italian offensive error placed the South Americans ahead 22-21, but the Europeans reacted again and took the 25-23 win with a block by Lavia.

The second set started with a dominant Italy, which forced Brazil to call a timeout at 5-1. With Lucarelli and Darlan stepping up, the South Americans pushed back and tied 12-12 with an ace from their opposite. An ace from Gianluca Galassi made the Italians charge ahead at 16-13 and although Brazil were able to tie it near the end and force overtime, the Italians took the 27-25 win after Giannelli made an incredible save and set Michieletto to score the winning point.

Like the first set, Brazil were the stronger team at the start of the third set, quickly producing a 7-4 lead with a spike by Leal. An ace from Lucarelli and a swing by Darlan had the Brazilians ahead by five at 13-8 and they continued to push forward, with Flavio Gualberto scoring 19-12 in a block. A big swing by Leal gave Brazil the 25-18 win at the end.

After some back-and-forth to start the fourth set, Italy got a 5-4 lead with an ace from Giannelli. Brazil came back with a backcourt spike by Darlan at 8-7, but Italy responded immediately with a pair of Romanò’s aces and regained control at 11-8. An Italian net fault kept the Brazilians' hopes alive when the difference went down to two points at 15-13, but a monster block by Russo positioned Italy to win the set, which they did when Lucas Saatkamp served at the net.

Paris 2024 – Match Schedule and Results

Italy’s next match at the Paris Olympics will be on Tuesday, when they will open the competition day against Egypt at 9:00 local time (7:00 GMT). Brazil don’t play again until Wednesday, when they are scheduled to meet Poland, also at 9:00 local time (7:00 GMT).

Poland sweep Egypt

The only national team now sitting above Italy in the World Rankings, Poland had a solid debut in the Paris Games, handing African champions Egypt a 3-0 (25-21, 25-19, 25-13) victory to collect their first three points in Pool B.

The victory marginally improved Poland's situation at the top of the World Rankings, adding just 0.9 points to their new total of 423.51. Egypt's position also remained unchanged, in 19th place, now with 163.03 points.

Star outside hitter Wilfredo Leon was Poland's main scorer in the match, tallying 13 points (nine kills, three aces, one block). Middle blocker Mateusz Bieniek and outside hitter Tomasz Fornal also had solid performances, with 11 and nine points, respectively.

“We’re the number one team in the world for a reason and when we find our rhythm, it’s difficult to keep up with us and we showed that in some moments,” captain Bartosz Kurek said. “I thought Egypt played well and have a lot of respect for the fight they put in, but we know that the next two matches should be much more complicated. Being here in Paris in front of the fans is a nice change from what he had in Tokyo. We play volleyball to put smiles on the faces of the fans and here we can do it. We’re feeling great energy from everyone here.”

Much of Poland's dominant victory came from the pressure they were able to apply from the service line as the Europeans topped Egypt in aces by the wide margin of eight to one - the Polish also led in blocks (eight to five) and kills (40 to 28).

For Egypt, middle blocker Mohamed 'Dola' Masoud was the main scoring option, ending as the match's leading scorer with 14 points (11 kills, two blocks, one ace), followed by outside hitter Ahmed Azab, who had six.

The opening day of the men’s tournament of the Paris Games also includes a pair of Pool A matches, with Germany beating Japan 3-2 in the first encounter and the United States and Argentina set to meet later, at 21:00 local time (19:00 GMT).

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