Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 6, 2016 - The first competition day of the volleyball tournament at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games will finish with an all-European clash. Italy and Serbia are the last two women’s teams that will test out the Olympic court with a Pool B encounter on Saturday evening.
Both teams booked their Olympic tickets in Tokyo. Serbia qualified for Rio 2016 as the FIVB Volleyball World Cup 2015 runner-up, while Italy won the FIVB Volleyball World Olympic Qualification Tournament earlier this year.
Neither of the two teams has ever won any Olympic medals. Serbia made their debut at Beijing 2008 when they finished fifth. Four years later, at London 2012, the Balkan side ended up 11th.
Italy have four Olympic participations. They have been at every edition of the Games since Sydney 2000, when they finished ninth. On the following three occasions, they consistently occupied the fifth position in the final standings.
Most recently, Serbia and Italy met in FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix 2016. On June 10, Italy claimed a 3-1 (25-16, 25-19, 29-31, 25-17) victory against their fellow European opponents. Coincidentally, that match also took place in Rio de Janeiro.