Men's volleyball: return to medals without Musarsky

Five years ago, the Russian men's volleyball team interrupted the medal series at the Olympics, which had lasted since 2000.

Vladimir Alekno's team, which played in the status of reigning champions, lost in the semifinals to Brazil, and then missed a two-set advantage in the match for bronze with the United States.

But this failure did not deprive Russian volleyball players of their positions in the world.

They are going to Tokyo to return to the podium, and they have every chance.

In the past Olympic cycle, the Russian team more than once attracted attention from the positive side.

The 2017 European Championship victory was followed by two titles in the newly formed Nations League.

The world championship and the next continental championship did not bring medals, but there were no big failures there either.

This season, they failed to score a hat-trick in the League of Nations. Tuomas Sammelvuo's wards did not have enough to get into the final four - only one extra set was needed to get around France in the standings. If the tournament had been held in the old format, in which six teams continue to fight, then preparations for the Olympics could have ended much more happily.

In general, the Russian team did not give cause for concern. She suffered four defeats in 15 matches, and in three cases she was inferior to the leaders of world volleyball from Poland, France and Slovenia. All of them can be explained by the fact that Sammelvuo experimented a lot with the line-up and looked for optimal combinations, which by the end of the tournament began to give results. The Russians beat the reigning European champions from Serbia, won a five-set match against powerful Italy and even defeated Brazil, which, however, played in the last round with the second line-up.

However, it was not possible to collect the optimal composition.

Dmitry Musersky will miss the second Olympics in a row due to injury.

Sammelvuo counted on him and gave him a chance in the League of Nations, but the 218-centimeter blocker already had damage and only exacerbated it.

Mussersky could definitely strengthen the team, in which now there is only one Olympic champion in London - the diagonal Maxim Mikhailov.

Russian volleyball players will play against Brazil, the USA and France in the group stage.

In many ways, these meetings will determine how the elimination tournament will develop in the future.

There is a possibility that in the quarterfinals Sammelvuo's charges will meet with the Iranian team led by Alekno.

In terms of its intensity, this match will be able to be on an equal footing with the decisive battles for medals.

Women's Volleyball: Avoiding Failure

The Russian women's volleyball team has certain problems that do not allow us to be optimistic about the future.

In their League of Nations, Sergi Buzato's charges performed worse and took only eighth place.

Above them in the standings were rivals in the group at the Olympics from the United States, China and Turkey, as well as Brazil, Japan and the Dominican Republic, with whom it is possible to meet in the playoffs.

Particularly alarming is the fact that the Russian national team almost always played with the main squad, without spending matches on checking reservists and fine-tuning the youth.

Opponents were just playing out various combinations to check before the Olympics.

But even in such a situation, Busato's wards lost in several key meetings.

It should be noted that the team was severely crippled by the losses of Ksenia Parubets and Tatiana Romanova.

Due to injuries, they will not play in Tokyo, although they could confidently count on a place in the squad.

But an even greater loss for the national team will be the absence of Tatyana Kosheleva.

She went through almost the entire League of Nations and often took to the court, but then unexpectedly announced her retirement in the national team, with which she won the 2010 World Cup.

Later it became known that health problems influenced Kosheleva's decision.

The same reason forced the libero Alla Galkina to take a break.

But the latter can be replaced almost painlessly by Anna Podkopaeva.

All these circumstances, coupled with the fact that Russian volleyball players have not shown character for several years and have not jumped over their heads at important tournaments, suggest that the fans should prepare for the worst.

At the Olympic Games, the national team has a streak of three consecutive defeats in the quarterfinals.

It will not be surprising if, for the first time in history, the girls do not leave the group at all.

Women's handball: the pursuit of the second gold

Russian handball players in Tokyo will defend the title of Olympic champions.

Five years ago, under the leadership of Evgeny Trefilov, they won their first gold since Soviet times.

That victory was the only Russian success in team sports in Rio de Janeiro.

Winning two or even three Olympics in a row is a kind of tradition in women's handball. The USSR, South Korea, Denmark and Norway necessarily confirmed their class at the next Games. The exception is the Yugoslav national team, which took first place in the boycotted competition in 1984. Now the Russian national team will try to enter the list of two-time winners, but it will be quite difficult for it to achieve this, even despite the fact that eight Olympic champions and five more current bronze medalists of the last world championship will compete in its composition.

Over the past five years, Russian girls have not managed to win a single tournament, except for the actual selection for the Olympics. The last performance at the European Championship left a bitter aftertaste. The team did not make it to the semifinals, and even before the end of the championship, head coach Ambros Martin was dismissed. In the match for the fifth place, the national team was led by Trefilov's former assistant Alexei Alekseev. He eventually took over the reins.

Unlike volleyball players, handball players did not have a full-scale rehearsal before the Olympics. They spent most of their time at the training camp and took part in only one friendly tournament out of two matches. Alekseev's wards lost one goal to the reigning world champions from the Netherlands and lost to the not-so-titled Swedish national team, which they will meet in the group stage. It is clear that in these meetings the goal was not to win without fail, but still, the fans would be calmer if they managed to avoid losses.

Four more teams will compete for reaching the playoffs - rivals in the previous Olympic final from France, the current vice-world champions from Spain, as well as strong teams from Brazil and Hungary.

The Russian women must certainly strive for the first place in the group in order to avoid an early meeting with the Netherlands or Norway - the main favorites of the entire women's handball tournament.

Women's Water Polo: Remove the Bronze Curse

Another participant in the Olympics will be the Russian women's water polo team. At every major tournament, she is among the contenders for awards, and the Tokyo competition will be no exception. But so far, the ceiling for Russian girls remains the third place. Twice at the Olympic Games, including the last in Rio, and five times at the World Championships, the team won bronze medals. So it will be fundamentally important for Alexander Gaidukov's charges to make it to the final for the first time in history.

The women's water polo tournament in Tokyo will be slightly different from the previous ones. For the first time ten teams will take part in it. They will be divided into two groups, of which four teams will continue to fight in the playoffs. The likelihood of an early departure should not scare Russian fans - in their group, where China, Hungary, the USA and Japan will also perform, it is the hosts of the Olympics that are the main outsiders who are destined for the last place.

In order to make the dream of the finals come true, Russian women urgently need to avoid meeting the American women again. Team USA is the real hegemon of women's water polo - it has won the last two Olympics, three World Championships and seven World League rallies. In order not to fall under the rink in the semifinals, Gaidukov's wards should take second or fourth place in the group. How strong girls from the United States are, Russians know firsthand. In the summer, the teams played four matches, and the Americans won them all with a total score of 68:25.

The Russian national team can fight on equal terms with other teams.

This was confirmed by the last draw of the World League, which was attended by almost all the participants in the Olympics.

In addition to the United States, the Russians lost only to Canada in the group stage with a difference of two goals, after which they took revenge from her in the match for third place.

The Russian team consists of half of the experienced players who won the bronze of the Games in Rio and the 2017 World Cup.

Basketball 3 × 3: revenge for the classics

For the second time in a row, Russia will not be represented at the Olympics in classical basketball, both for the men's team and the women's.

The girls lost their chances of a trip to Tokyo after a disastrous performance at the 2019 European Championships.

In July, the men took part in the final qualifying tournament, where they alternately lost to Mexico and Germany and could not even leave the group.

But on the other hand, the debut of 3 × 3 basketball will take place in Japan.

In this version of the game, three athletes enter the court, they throw the ball into the same ring and play either for ten minutes, or until one of the teams scores 21 points.

In this kind of basketball, Russians are much more successful and can compete for two sets of awards at once.

The bronze medalist of the 2012 Olympics Anton Ponkrashov could have entered the men's four (one substitute), but he was not in the final line-up.

Russia will be represented by Alexander Zuev, Ilya Karpenkov, Kirill Pisklov and Stanislav Sharov.

First of all, they will oppose the powerful teams of Serbia, Latvia and Poland.

By the way, the founders of basketball and the reigning world champions from the USA did not pass the 3 × 3 selection, which makes it easier for other participants to fight for medals.

The Russian women's team boasts a victory at the world championship in 2017 and second place in 2018.

But of those who achieved these successes, only Anastasia Logunova remained in the team.

In Tokyo, she will be assisted by ex-basketball player of the Russian national team Maria Yulia Kozik, as well as Evgenia and Olga Frolkina.

The main threat to the Russian women will come from the American women, who have only women's NBA players in their roster, as well as the last world champions - Chinese women.

Women's rugby sevens: debut at the Olympics

For the second time in history, the Olympic Games will feature medals in rugby sevens, a mini-version of a harsh game with an oval ball, where seven players enter the field and matches last 14 minutes. The Russian women's national team will debut at these competitions, which last only three days from start to finish. A total of 12 teams will take part in the tournament. They will be divided into three groups of four participants. The top two will advance directly to the playoffs, while the third-place winners will receive two more tickets.

Russia got into the same quartet with girls from New Zealand, Great Britain and Kenya.

Each of these teams is very different from each other in terms of class.

So, New Zealanders are the main favorites along with the Australians.

They have enough not only silver medalists of the previous Olympics, but also world champions in classic rugby.

Defeating them is a pipe dream for most rugby sevens.

Great Britain (more precisely, England that makes up its backbone) belongs to the second echelon, which includes the Russian national team.

Andrey Kuzin's charges have beaten her four times in the last five matches.

It is very likely that it is in the meeting with the British that the fate of a ticket to the playoffs will be decided, since Kenya is an unambiguous outsider of its group.

Before the Olympics, alarming news came from the camp of the rugby national team that the girls had to isolate themselves due to a masseur's positive coronavirus test. Fortunately, this case did not lead to any big problems. Already on July 16, the team continued their preparations for the first game, which will take place on the 29th. If the Russian women manage to get into the playoffs, the first Olympic experience can be considered successful. Unfortunately, there is no talk of fighting for medals.