Chris McHugh and Damien Schumann posted the only men’s seed-break-through win here Saturday as the Australians upset 14th-seeded Oleg Stoyanovskiy/Artem Yarzutkin of Russia in a pool play match at the 2017 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships presented by A1.
"We know the Russians very well even though they are young," Schumann said.
"They beat Alison and Bruno (of Brazil) last week in Poland. They are very good so we are happy to get the win.
"It doesn’t get any easier with Italy next. We had a really close game with them in Russia (three-set win by Australia). Anything can happen any day you just have to go for it. We’ll rest and learn what we can from this game and try and tighten it up for the next game.”
McHugh said the win should make the Australians more relaxed."We’ve got a tough pool here, we’ve got Italy tomorrow, second in the Olympics. It’s always good to start with a win, it takes bit of the mental pressure off, and lets you free up a bit mentally."
Lupo and Nicolai, who will be challenged by the Australians Monday, opened world championship play Saturday by posting a 2-0 (21-7, 21-8) win in 22 minutes over 38th-seeded African qualifiers Abubakarr Kamara/Patrick Lombie of Sierra Leone.