Rio de Janeiro, August 10, 2016 - Germany's Markus Bockermann/Lars Fluggen face a must-win match against Dmitri Barsouk/Nikita Liamin of Russia to finish off pool B. A loss by the Germans will send them home with a 19th-place finish, while a win will set up a tie-breaker between the two and possibly Poland if they lose their pool match. A win by Russia will either set up a three-way tie for the pool lead at 2-1 if Poland wins or a 2nd-place finish and advancement into the elimination stage if Poland loses.
Head to Head
Dmitri Barsouk/Nikita Liamin have won the only meeting between the two teams on the FIVB World Tour.
• Barsouk/Liamin won 25-27, 21-12, and 21-19 in 56 minutes, A1 Major Klagenfurt, Round of 24, 07/29/2016
Historically the #14 seed has won all three meetings against the #23 seed in the Olympic Games.
• Petr Benes/Premysl Kubala (14), Czech Republic def. Kentaro Asahi/Katsuhiro Shiratori (23), Japan, 17-21, 21-12, 15-7 in 44 minutes, Pool Play, London (2012).
• Mariano Baracetti/Martin Conde (14), Argentina def. Martins Plavins/Aleksandrs Samoilovs (23), Latvia, 23-21, 21-19 in 45 minutes, Pool Play, Beijing (2008).
• Francisco Alvarez/Juan Rossell (14), Cuba def. Stephane Canet/Mathieu Hamel (23), France, 21-18, 21-19 in 39 minutes, Pool Play, Athens (2004).
Markus Bockermann/Lars Fluggen, Germany, Seed #14, Pool B, 0-2, 0.250 Set Ratio, 0.8776 Point Ratio, Qualified 15th with 4,850 Points in the 2015-16 Olympic qualification period
• Markus: January 14, 1986 (30y6m23d), 198 cm (6'6"), 95 kg (211 lbs.), Hometown Hamburg, 68th FIVB World Tour event, two gold medals, $147,800 career winnings
• Lars: May 24, 1990 (26y2m13d), 192 cm (6'4"), 80 kg (178 lbs.), Hometown Berlin, 36th FIVB World Tour event, two gold medals, $113,475 career winnings
• Markus and Lars have been playing together since 2015. They are playing in their 24th FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour tournament together, two gold medals, $151,750 career winnings.
• Markus has played in seven FIVB World Tour final fours with two gold, three silver medals and two 4th place finishes.
• Lars has played in eight FIVB World Tour final fours with two gold, four silver medals and two 4th place finishes.
• Markus and Lars have played in seven Final Fours in 2015-2016 (Gold Fuzhou Open 2015, Silver Rio de Janeiro Open 2015, Silver Xiamen Open 2015, 4th Puerto Vallarta Open 2015-16, Gold Doha Open 2015-16, 4th Doha Open 2016, Silver Antalya Open 2016).
• Markus finished 9th in the FIVB World Championships with Mischa Urbatzka in 2013 (Stare Jablonki).
• Markus and Lars are currently ranked 13th in FIVB World Tour points in 2016 with 3,930 points and 19th in winnings with $81,750.
• Markus and Lars have a career 78-48 (61.9%) match record in FIVB World Tour Events, all in 2015-16.
• Markus won the silver medal at the European (CEV) Baden Masters with Mischa Urbatzka in 2013 (Baden, Austria).
• Lars won the silver medal at the CEV Novi Sad Masters with Alexander Walkenhorst in 2013 (Novi Sad, Serbia).
• Lars had knee surgery in April forcing him to miss several FIVB World Tour events.
• Lost to Piotr Kantor/Bartosz Losiak, Poland (11), 11-21 and 21-23 in 38 minutes.
• Lost to Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen, Netherlands (2), 19-21, 21-17, and 14-16 in 62 minutes.
Dmitri Barsouk/Nikita Liamin, Russia, Seed #23, Pool B, 1-1, 1.000 Set Ratio, 0.9726 Point Ratio, Qualified from Continental Cup Finals
• Dmitri: January 20, 1980 (36y6m17d), 193 cm (6'4"), 86 kg (191 lbs.), Hometown Krasnodar, 128th FIVB World Tour event (ranks 32nd), two gold medals, $364,262 career winnings (ranks 53rd)
• Nikita: October 14, 1985 (30y9m23d), 203 cm (6'8"), 91 kg (202 lbs.), Hometown Gorkiy, 18th FIVB World Tour event, $23,887 career winnings
• Dmitri and Nikita have been playing together since 2014. They are playing in their 14th FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour tournament together with $45,775 career winnings.
• Dmitri has played in 14 FIVB World Tour final fours with two gold, three silver, four bronze medals and five 4th place finishes.
• Nikita has played in one FIVB World Tour final four with one bronze medal.
• Dmitri finished 9th in the Olympic Games with Igor Kolodinsky in 2008 (Beijing).
• Dmitri finished 17th in the FIVB World Championships in 2003 (Rio de Janeiro) and 9th in 2005 (Berlin), both with Roman Arkaev, won the silver medal in 2007 (Gstaad) and finished 17th in 2009 (Stavanger), both with Igor Kolodinsky and finished 37th with Alexey Yutvalin in 2011 (Rome) and 37th with Yaroslav Koshkarev in 2015 (The Hague).
• Dmitri and Nikita are currently ranked 35th in FIVB World Tour points in 2016 with 1,930 points and 33rd in winnings with $28,775.
• Dmitri and Nikita have a career 38-27 (58.5%) match record in FIVB World Tour Events and a 26-21 (55.3%) record in 2015-16.
• Dmitri won the silver medal at the 1st European Games with Yaroslav Koshkarev in 2015 (Baku, Azerbaijan).
• Dmitri won the bronze medal at the European (CEV) Continental Championship with Igor Kolodinsky in 2008 (Hamburg, Germany) and one other silver medal on the CEV Continental Tour with Yaroslav Koshkarev in 2015.
• Dmitri was named the FIVB World Tour Most Improved Player in 2007.
• After missing their first opportunity to secure a Copacabana spot by placing third at the CEV Continental Cup competition at the end of June in Stavanger, Norway, the Russian team bounced back with wins over Kazakhstan, Venezuela, Morocco, Canada, Mexico and Belgium at the Continental Cup Finals in Sochi.
• Lost to Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen, Netherlands (2), 15-21, 14-21 in 37 minutes
• Defeated Piotr Kantor/Bartosz Losiak, Poland (11), 21-14 and 21-17 in 34 minutes.