Rio de Janeiro, August 7, 2016 – USA’s Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena began their Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games campaign by beating Tunisia’s Mohamed Naceur and Choaib Salah 2-0 (21-7, 21-13) at the Copacabana Beach Arena on Sunday.
Here’s what they said after the match….
Nick Lucena, USA
“It was fun, I was anxious to play and once we got into it, it was just like any other match.
“They are physical guys and hit the ball pretty hard. Phil had to make some blocks and we tried to keep to our system with our passing.
“We’d never seen them play and didn’t know what to expect, so we just focused on our side. That was the most important point, me siding-out and Phil scoring those points.”
Choaib Salah, Tunisia
“The match was very difficult for us. It was against someone who won the Olympics and a team that is number one in the rankings this year. It is a huge experience, but unfortunately we were unable to win the match.
“I hope against Mexico and Italy we can win and we have to think about those now.”