Tokyo, Japan, May 28, 2016 - What an exciting encounter as soon as the second competition day at the FIVB Volleyball Men's World Olympic Qualification Tournament! Volleyball powerhouses France and Poland will lock horns in the all-European derby in Tokyo.
Head-to-head
• The last encounter between France and Poland came at the European Olympic Qualification tournament in January 2016: France defeated Poland in the semifinals (3-0) and continued to the final, which they lost versus Russia.
• In 2015, the teams met twice with both teams recording one win.
• At the European Games, Poland defeated France (3-2) in the preliminary round. Both countries progressed to the final round.
• The other meeting in 2015 came in the semifinal of the 2015 World League. En route to their victory, France beat Poland in five sets. Poland eventually lost the third place match against United States (3-0).
France
• France won their first match at the World Olympic Qualification tournament against China (3-1).
• France have now won all of their four opening matches at the tournament. In 2000 and 2004, they also won their second match; only in 2012, they lost their second match against Bulgaria (3-1).
• That loss against Bulgaria was France's only defeat in their last 11 matches at the World Olympic Qualification tournament.
• Antonin Rouzier scored 22 points versus China, including 20 spikes: both are most of all players during the first matchround.
Poland
• Poland defeated Canada by 3-2 in their opening match.
• Poland have now won all of their 10 matches at the World Olympic Qualification Tournament (1996, 2004, 2008, 2016), most of all teams with a 100% winning score in the tournament.
• Poland could lose multiple sets in consecutive matches at the tournament for the first time.
• Only upcoming opponent Rouzier (22) scored more points in the opening matchround than Bartosz Kurek (21) against Canada (Kunihiro Shimizu (JPN) also on 21).