Ejected from the race for the podium in the quarter-finals in Rio five years ago, the Brazilian volleyball players regained their place in the Olympic semi-final, beating the Russians in four sets (23-25, 25-21, 25- 19, 25-22 Arriving in Tokyo, the Brazilians had only one goal: to wash away the affront of the Maracanazinho, and the defeat in the quarterfinals against China, future Olympic champion.
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These are the teammates of Ana Cristina de Souza, Brazil's best striker (83 points) in the semi-finals, a stage in the competition that they have only left once (in 2016) since the Barcelona Games in 1992. For a place in the final, they will be favorites against the surprising South Korea, which fell to Turkey in the quarter-finals on Wednesday.
For their part, the Serbs had no trouble getting rid of Italy in less than 75 minutes (25-21, 25-14, 25-21).
2018 world champions and 2017 and 2019 European champions, the Serbian volleyball players confirmed their status as big favorites for Olympic gold, which eluded them five years ago in Rio against China.
In the semi-finals, they will have to be wary of the Americans, easy winners of the Dominican Republic (25-11, 25-20, 25-19), for a revenge of the half of 2016 won in the tie-break by the Serbs in Rio .