Russia defeat Brazil for Olympic volleyball gold

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Russia defeat Brazil for Olympic volleyball gold

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Russia beat Brazil 19-25, 20-25, 29-27, 25-22, 15-9 to win volleyball gold at the London Olympics.

13 August,2012 05:01 am

Russia won the gold medal for the first time since 1980 with a come-from-behind five-set victory over Brazil on Sunday in the Olympic volleyball final.Second-ranked Russia dropped the first two sets before denying top-ranked Brazil match point twice to spark a comeback in the 19-25, 20-25, 29-27, 25-22, 15-9 victory, paced by middle blocker Dmitriy Muserskiy with 31 points.The Russians thought theyd won it on Muserskiys kill in the fifth set and began to celebrate, but the officials awarded the point to Brazil. After regrouping, Muserskiy came right back to spike match point.The win gives the Russians four gold medals in volleyball, most of any nation. But the last time Russia was atop the podium was at Moscow, when the former Soviet Union won gold on home soil.Russias victory denied Brazil a dual gold with its womens team, which beat the United States a day before in their Olympic final at Earls Court.Brazil also won the silver medal at the 2008 Beijing Games, falling in an emotional final to the United States that came after U.S. coach Hugh McCutcheons father-in-law was killed at a Chinese tourist attraction a day before the opening ceremony.Italy won its fourth mens volleyball medal in the last five Olympics by beating Bulgaria for the bronze earlier on Sunday. The Italians won 25-19, 23-25, 25-22, 25-21, with captain Cristian Savani scoring a game-high 23 points.