The German volleyball players made a successful start to the Olympic qualifying tournament in Rio de Janeiro. National coach Michal Winiarski’s team beat Iran 3-1 (25:22, 22:25, 25:16, 25:21). The most successful point collector was the 38-year-old exceptional player Georg Grozer (23 points), who returned to the team for the Olympic opportunity.

The DVV team’s second game against Cuba is scheduled for today (6:30 p.m. CEST). In the seven games within nine days, the national team must secure at least second place in the field of eight in order to be allowed to go to Paris. If that doesn’t work, the only option left is the difficult path through the world rankings, which currently doesn’t seem very promising. The last time a German team made it to the Summer Games was in London in 2012.