Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 11, 2016 - Russia and Japan will measure against each other on the fourth competition day in Pool A of the women’s volleyball tournament at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
With three victories at hand, the Russians are second only to hosts Brazil on set ration in the current pool standings. They have already qualified for the quarterfinals, but are in the race for pole position.
Japan are fourth in the table with a 1-2 win-loss record and are still under the threat of not making the quarterfinals.
Russia (previously also as USSR and CIS) and Japan have met 55 times in major international competitions with the Russians winning on 38 occasions.
Seven of these encounters occurred at the Olympic Games – in 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1988, 1992 and 2012. Japan won three of these matches. The most recent one, four years ago in London, ended with a 3-1 (27-25, 25-17, 20-25, 19-25) victory for Russia on August 3, 2012.
The most recent meeting between the two sides took place on June 26, 2016 in Kyoto, Japan. The home side suffered a 1-3 (25-20, 23-25, 24-26, 20-25) defeat in this FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix fixture.
So far in Rio, Russia started off with a 3-0 win against Argentina, followed up with a 3-1 victory over Korea and then shut out Cameroon.
Japan lost to Korea by 1-3 in the first Rio 2016 match, but then rebounded with a straight-set win against Cameroon. In their third match, the Japanese lost to Brazil in straight sets.