Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 6, 2016 - Two teams that have experienced success in the past year on Copacabana met here Saturday evening with Poland’s Piotr Kantor and Bartosz Losiak defeating Markus Bockermann and Lars Fluggen of Germany in the second of two Pool B matches in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
In posting a 2-0 (21-11, 23-21) win in 39 minutes over the Germans, Kantor and Losiak extended their Copacabana winning streak to 10 as the Polish pair won the first nine matches last March enroute to capturing an FIVB World Tour gold medal at the Rio Grand Slam.
Overall, the Poles are now 13-2 on the iconic beach after placing ninth last September at the Rio Open as Kantor and Losiak were eliminated from the Olympic “test” event by Bockermann and Fluggen. The Germans placed second in the Rio Open after losing the finale to Aleksandrs Samoilovs and Janis Smedins of Latvia, who begin play in the 2016 Olympics Sunday.
After dominating the first set, Kantor only trailed once in the second set at 1-2. The Poles led 12-9 at the technical timeout and expanded it to 18-14 after a Kantor block. Bockermann and Fluggen fought back to tie the second set at 20s and 21s, but a German error and a successful attack by Kantor after a Losiak dig earned the Poles the win.
In the opening Pool B match Saturday, 2013 FIVB world champions Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen of The Netherlands launched their Olympic bid by defeating Dmitri Barsouk and Nikita Liamin of Russia 2-0 (21-15, 21-14) in 37 minutes. The Dutch play Bockermann and Fluggen early Monday evening while the Poles play Barsouk and Liamin in the morning.
