Brazil win volleyball; Japan take bronze

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Brazil retained their Olympic volleyball title courtesy of a simply brilliant final performance against the United States at Earls Court.

In a repeat of the 2008 Beijing showpiece, the South Americans once again got the better of their arch-rivals, seeing them off by the very score that was good enough four years ago (11-25, 25-17, 25-20, 25-17).
As a result, America's wait for volleyball gold goes on - this was their 10th failed attempt - and they have only got themselves to blame.
Japan took the bronze medal in the women's Olympic volleyball by securing a straight-sets success over South Korea in their all-Asian clash at Earls Court.
Masayoshi Manabe's side appeared to want the glory more than their rivals, displaying a greater appetite from the first point as they wrapped up a first Games podium finish since 1984 with the 25-22 26-24 25-21 win.
They stifled Kim Yeon-koung - South Korea's go-to hitter - throughout, with the 24-year-old appearing battle weary having carried her nation through to the last four with a string of stunning performances.
She did score 22 points but her intensity was well below what it has been for the last fortnight, with her approaches to the net seemingly more out of duty than desire.
And, with Japan on the top of the game as they chased a sixth Olympic volleyball medal, South Korea were rarely in the game over the course of the 90 minutes.
Soari Sakoda top-scored with 23 points for Japan, who won the game despite not picking up a single point on the block.
So clean was their hitting and transition that they did not need to do anything in defence at the net, being out-scored by eight points to nil.
But they did crucially register 53 points to 38 on the spike, always having enough to pull clear whenever South Korea looked like mounting a challenge.