Canada provided the first upset of the men's volleyball tournament at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games when they stunned USA in straight sets as the competition kicked off on Sunday, with defending champions Russia, hosts Brazil plus Italy, Poland and Argentina opening their campaigns with victories.
Canada destroyed their southern neighbours - the Beijing 2008 Olympic gold medallists and current holders of the FIVB World Cup - in straight sets (25-23, 25-17, 25-23) to set the pace for a most thrilling ten days of pool play in Rio.
Also in Pool A, hosts Brazil overcame the jitters of the first set to score a 3-1 (23-25, 25-19, 25-14, 25-18) win over Mexico and in the tournament opener Italy stunnned reigning European champions France 3-0 (25-20, 25-20, 25-15).
In Pool B reigning world champions Poland found little difficulty in dealing with Egypt 3-0 (25-18, 25-20, 25-17), while defending champions Russia overcame Cuba's youngsters 3-1 (25-17, 25-19, 22-25, 25-18) and Argentina shut out Olympic debutantes Iran 3-0 (25-23, 26-24, 25-18).
Summary Statistics Men’s Tournament Rio 2016
Highest Scorer by Day
21 – Facundo Conte of Argentina v Iran on August 7
Top Scoring Performances
21 – Facundo Conte of Argentina v Iran on August 7
20 – Osniel Rendon of Cuba v Russia on August 7
18 – Wallace de Souza of Brazil v Mexico on August 7
17 – Ricardo Lucarelli of Brazil v Mexico on August 7
16 – Ivan Zaytsev of Italy v France on August 7
Top Individual Blocking Performances
5 – Facundo Conte of Argentina v Iran on August 7
3 – Seyed Mousavi of Iran v Argentina on August 7
3 – Matteo Piano of Italy v France on August 7
3 – Emanuele Birarelli of Italy v France on August 7
3 – Matusz Bieniek of Poland v Egypt on August 7
3 – John Gordon Perrin of Canada v United States on August 7
3 – Artem Volvich of Russia v Cuba on August 7
3 – Maxim Mikhalyov of Russia v Cuba on August 7
3 – Osniel Melgarejo of Cuba v Russia on August 7
Top Individual Service Performances
4 – Ricardo Lucarelli of Brazil v Mexico on August 7
Top Team Blocking Performances
11 – Italy v France on August 7
10 – Russia v Cuba on August 7
10 – Argentina v Iran on August 7
9 – Canada v United States on August 7
Top Team Serving Performances
9 – Brazil v Mexico on August 7
Highest Scoring Sets
26-24 Argentina v Iran (2nd set) on August 7
25-23 Argentina v Iran (1st set) on August 7
25-23 Mexico v Brazil (1st Set) on August 7
25-23 Canada v United States (1st Set) on August 7
25-23 Canada v United States (3rd Set) on August 7
Highest Scoring Matches
176 – Russia v Cuba 3-1 (25-17, 25-19, 22-25, 25-18) on August 7
174 – Brazil d Mexico 3-1 (23-25, 25-19, 25-14, 25-18) on August 7
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