Defending champions Brazil were stretched the distance before beating Cuba in their opener at the World Grand Champions Cup men’s volleyball tournament yesterday.
The Brazilian men’s team — which had to be satisfied with the silver medal at the Beijing Olympics last year after losing to the US in the final — needed just under two hours to score a hard-fought 25-22, 24-26, 25-18, 23-25, 15-10 victory.
“Cuba are still very powerful and can come up with their serve, like they did in the fourth set,” said Brazil’s coach, Bernardo Rezende.
“We have more experienced players and were able to control the fifth set. It was a tense and difficult match,” he said.
Cuba’s coach, Orlando Samuels, said: “When I saw the schedule, the first match is against Brazil, so some of my players thought it was unfair. They are difficult to play against. My players couldn’t keep their concentration.”
Earlier in the day, Iran edged past wild card entrants Egypt 21-25, 25-20, 25-21, 17-25, 15-10 in the six-team round robin competition.
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