Rio de Janeiro, August 15, 2016 - Italy's Daniele Lupo/Paolo Nicolai goes head to head with Dmitri Barsouk/Nikita Liamin of Russia in the third quarterfinal match of day ten. It will be just the second time these two teams have played in FIVB World Tour competition, with the Russians winning in April this year. The winner will advance to the semi-finals, and the loser will be eliminated with a 5th-place finish.
Head to Head
Dmitri Barsouk/Nikita Liamin won the only meeting between the two teams in FIVB World Tour competition, in April this year.
• Barsouk/Liamin won 25-23 and 21-12 in 49 minutes, Fuzhou Open, Pool Play, 04/20/2016
Historically the #10 seed has defeated the #23 seed in the only meeting in the Olympic Games.
• Francisco Alvarez/Juan Rossell (10), Cuba def. Tom Englen/Fredrik Petersson (23), Sweden, 15-3 in 29 minutes, Round of 16, Atlanta (1996).
Daniele Lupo/Paolo Nicolai, Italy, Seed #10, Pool C, 1-2, 3rd Place, Qualified 10th with 5,220 Points in the 2015-16 Olympic qualification period
• Daniele: May 6, 1991 (25y3m9d), 195 cm (6'5"), 80 kg (178 lbs.), Hometown Rome, 62nd FIVB World Tour event, three gold medals, $312,487 career winnings (ranks 63rd)
• Paolo: August 6, 1988 (28y0m9d), 203 cm (6'8"), 91 kg (202 lbs.), Hometown Ortona, 82nd FIVB World Tour event, three gold medals, $358,412 career winnings (ranks 55th)
• Daniele and Paolo have been playing together since 2011. They are playing in their 58th FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour tournament together (ranks 46th), three gold medals, $620,175 career winnings (ranks 25th).
• Daniele has played in 15 FIVB World Tour final fours with three gold, five silver, five bronze medals and two 4th place finishes.
• Paolo has played in 15 FIVB World Tour final fours with three gold, five silver, five bronze medals and two 4th place finishes.
• Daniele and Paolo have played in four Final Fours in 2015-2016 (Bronze Sochi Open 2015, Silver Vitória Open 2016, Silver Fuzhou Open 2016, Gold Sochi Open 2016).
• Daniele and Paolo finished 5th in the Olympic Games in 2012 (London).
• Daniele and Paolo finished 9th in the FIVB World Championships in 2013 (Stare Jablonki) and 17th in 2015 (The Hague).
• Daniele finished 33rd in the FIVB World Championships with Andrea Tomatis in 2011 (Rome).
• Paolo finished 17th in the FIVB World Championships in 2009 (Stavanger) and 9th in 2011 (Rome), both with Matteo Martino.
• Daniele and Paolo are currently ranked 22nd in FIVB World Tour points in 2016 with 3,120 points and 20th in winnings with $70,575.
• Daniele and Paolo have a career 203-102 (66.6%) match record in FIVB World Tour Events and a 66-38 (63.5%) record in 2015-16. Excluding forfeits, they are 131-53 (71.2%) in two sets and 68-48 (58.6%) in three sets, including 163-23 (87.6%) when winning the 1st set and 36-78 (31.6%) when losing the 1st set.
• Daniele and Paolo won the gold medal at the European (CEV) Continental Championships in 2014 (Cagliari, Italy) and 2016 (Biel, Switzerland).
• Paolo won the silver medal at the U19 World Championships with Francesco Giontella in 2006 (Bermuda, Bermuda).
• Paolo won the gold medal at the U21 World Championships in 2007 (Modena, Italy) and 2008 (Brighton, England), both with Francesco Giontella.
• Paolo Nicolai was named the FIVB World Tour Most Improved Player in 2012 and Best Offensive Player in 2014.
• Pool C: Lost to Lombardo Ontiveros/Juan Virgen, Mexico (15), 21-14, 14-21, and 11-15 in 48 minutes.
• Pool C: Defeated Choaib Belhaj/Mohamed Naceur, Tunisia (22), 21-17 and 21-13 in 35 minutes.
• Pool C: Lost to Phil Dalhausser/Nick Lucena, United States (3), 13-21, 21-17, and 22-24 in 60 minutes.
• Lucky Loser: Defeated Piotr Kantor/Bartosz Losiak, Poland (11), 21-12, 15-21, and 15-13 in 41 minutes.
• Round of 16: Defeated Adrian Carambula/Alex Ranghieri, Italy (12), 21-12 and 23-21 in 17 minutes.
Dmitri Barsouk/Nikita Liamin, Russia, Seed #23, Pool B, 2-1, 2nd Place, Qualified from Continental Cup Finals
• Dmitri: January 20, 1980 (36y6m26d), 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 (30y10m1d), 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 40-27 (59.7%) match record in FIVB World Tour Events and a 28-21 (57.1%) record in 2015-16. Excluding forfeits, they are 24-16 (60.0%) in two sets and 14-10 (58.3%) in three sets, including 29-5 (85.3%) when winning the 1st set and 9-21 (30.0%) when losing the 1st set.
• 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.
• Pool B: Lost to Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen, Netherlands (2), 15-21 and 14-21 in 37 minutes.
• Pool B: Defeated Piotr Kantor/Bartosz Losiak, Poland (11), 21-14 and 21-17 in 34 minutes.
• Pool B: Defeated Markus Bockermann/Lars Fluggen, Germany (14), 21-14 and 21-17 in 36 minutes.
• Round of 16: Defeated Evandro Goncalves/Pedro Solberg, Brazil (4), 16-21, 21-14, and 15-10 in 48 minutes.