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Volleyball     Ariake Arena
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Competition format
12 teams take part in both men’s and women’s events. After round-robin preliminary phase, top eight teams enter knockout phase

COURT: 18m x 9m

Object
Two teams of 12 – with six on court at any one time – aim to land ball in opposing court. Each team has three touches to return ball over net

Ball
Diameter: 21cm
Weight: 260-280g

Libero: Defensive specialist, wears contrasting shirt

Net height 2.24m (women) 2.43m (men)
ATTACK ZONE
DEFENCE ZONE
FREE ZONE
Sideline
Baseline

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1 Serve: Ball driven over net into opposing court from server behind baseline

2 Dig: Player gets low to stop ball touching court

3 Set: Overhead pass directs ball towards point where teammate can hit spike

4 Spike: Player aims to hit ball down with sufficient force into opposing court so that it cannot be returned

5 Block: Defending players try to deflect ball back over net or keep it in play


Matches
Best of five sets. Set played to 25 points (15 points in fifth set), with team needing two-point advantage to win. Team that wins point serves next

Zhu Ting, captain of China’s women’s volleyball team that won gold at 2016 Olympics
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Pictures: Getty Images, Mikasa    Sources: FIVB, Tokyo 2020
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