Russia defeated Brazil to win the Olympic men's volleyball gold medal in an extremely difficult and neck-to-neck match on Sunday

Having lost the first two sets, Russia twice found themselves a match point down in the third but roared back to claim their first gold in the event for 32 years with scores of 19-25, 20-25, 29-27, 25-22 and 15-9.

The younger and taller Russian team then won by six clear points in the decider to claim their first Olympic volleyball gold since a victory on home turf in the 1980 Moscow Games.

Earlier in the day the Bulgarian national men volleyball team suffered a dramatic loss against Italy in a battle for the bronze.

In an outstanding game, fighting till there last breath, and in a very close match, the Bulgarians, who became the country's Olympic heroes, lost Sunday with 1:3 (19:25, 25:23, 22:25, 21:25).

After winning the silver in Moscow in 1980 against the USSR, the fourth Olympic ranking is the biggest Bulgarian success along with another 4th place at the Munich Games.

Earlier, the Bulgarian team crushed Italy with 3:0 during the qualifiers in pool A, where it ranked first. The team lost against Russia in the semi-finals and had to face Italy for the second time at the London Olympics, after the latter was defeated by Brazil.

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