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USA open Olympic campaign with victory over Belgium
ROTTERDAM,
The Netherlands, August 9, 2019 - Triple Olympic champions USA
had to fight hard against Belgium to kick start their campaign
for a ticket to the Tokyo 2020 Games with a 3-1 (25-20, 25-19,
17-25, 25-18) win in Pool B. Aaron Russell and Mathew Anderson
led USA with 19 and 17 points, respectively.
In Ningbo, China, Argentina began their qualification campaign
with a 3-1 (25-23, 22-25, 27-25, 25-23) edge against Canada in
Pool F. Facundo Conte had 24 points as the best Argentinean
while Nicholas Hoag had 19 for Canada.
In Saint Petersburg, Russia, Iran started with a win, as they
edged Cuba in the tough five-set match 3-2 (23-25, 26-28, 25-17,
25-16, 15-10) in Pool E. Ali Shafiei scored 20 points for Iran,
while Osniel Melgarejo and Marlon Yang each had 15 for Cuba.
Also in Saint Petersburg, Russia outclassed Mexico 3-0 (25-15,
25-11, 25-17) with the support of the home crowd in the first
game of their Olympic qualifiers. Dmitriy Muserskiy topped
Russia with 8 points and Daniel Vargas had 9 for Mexico.
In Varna, Bulgaria, the reigning Olympic champions Brazil began
their qualifying campaign with a quick straight-set win over
Puerto Rico (25-23, 25-19, 25-19) in the first match in Pool A.
Ricardo Lucarelli was the top scorer of his team with 14 points.
Pablo Guzman accounted for 11 of Puerto Rico's. |