European three standing between world champs and Olympic glory

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 15, 2016 – Daniele Lupo and Paolo Nicolai enjoyed the better of a thrilling two-set clash against Nikita Liamin and Dmitri Barsuk to reach the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games semifinals at the Copacabana Beach Arena on Monday. 

The Italians, who won the European Championships earlier in the year, won the first set. The Russians fought back in the second, but once Lupo and Nicolai grabbed the lead in the tie-break they held on to it and won with a Nicolai block. READ MORE

Konstantin Semenov and Viacheslav Krasilnikov will be the Italian’s opponents after they ended the dreams of Nivaldo Diaz and Sergio Gonzalez. 

Both teams pushed each other hard throughout the three sets and while the Cubans saved five match points eventually won 2-1 (22-20, 22-24, 18-16). READ MORE

Number one seeds and reigning world champions Alison Cerutti and Bruno Schmidt ensured that the number one men’s team are through to the end of the competition when they defeated Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena 2-1 (21-12, 14-21, 15-9). 

The wind was played in high winds, but the Brazilians handled it better than their American rivals to reach the gold medal match. READ MORE

The win sets up a semifinal against Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen, the team that preceded Alison and Bruno as world champs. 

They faced their fellow Dutchmen Reinder Nummerdor and Christiaan Varenhorst and reached the semifinals in their first Olympic Games with a 2-0 (25-23, 21-17) win. READ MORE