Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 11, 2016 - After dropping their final pool play match here Thursday afternoon, Daniele Lupo and Paolo Nicolai recovered sufficiently to defeat Piotr Kantor and Bartosz Losiak of Poland in a three-set “lucky loser” match in the evening to advance to the men’s elimination bracket in the Beach Volleyball competition at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
After losing 2-1 (13-21, 21-17, 24-22) in 55 minutes to Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena in a Pool C match, the Italians posted a 2-1 (21-12, 15-21, 15-13) in 46 minutes over Kantor and Losiak to eliminate the Polish pair from the Copacabana completion. The Poles had won the only other international meeting between the two teams at a 2013 event in Argentina
With the victory, Lupo and Nicolai will play compatriots Adrian Carambula and Alex Ranghieri in the elimination Round of 16. The two Italian teams have met once on the FIVB World Tour with Carambula and Ranghieri defeating Lupo and Ranghieri 2-1 (18-21, 21-18, 15-8) in 48 minutes at the 2015 Olsztyn Grand Slam in Poland.