Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 8, 2016 - Piotr Kantor and Bartosz Losiak were on a “roll” on Copacabana as the young Poles had won 10-straight matches on the iconic beach featuring a FIVB World Tour grand slam gold medal in mid-March and an opening Rio 2016 Olympic victory Saturday.
Dmitri Barsouk and Nikita Liamin were not impressed as the last qualifying men’s team for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games from Russia posted a 2-0 (21-14, 21-17) Pool B win in 37 minutes over Kantor and Losiak. The Russian, who have now won two of three international meetings with the Poles, trailed only once in the match as Kantor and Losiak scored the opening point of the contest for their only lead.
Prior to the Poles opening Olympic win over Markus Bockermann and Lars Fluggen of Germany 2-0 (21-11, 23-21) in 38 minutes Saturday, Kantor and Losiak won nine-straight matches at the Rio Grand Slam with a gold medal win over Evandro Goncalves and Pedro Solberg of Brazil.
Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen of The Netherlands, the only undefeated team in Pool B after downing Barsouk and Liamin Saturday 2-0 (21-15, 21-14) in 37 minutes play Bockermann and Fluggen later Monday. Pool B action concludes Wednesday with Barsouk and Liamin challenging the German and Kantor and Losiak playing the Dutch, who captured the 2013 FIVB world championship gold medal in Poland at Stare Jablonki.
