In the Pool's other encounter, Serbia lost 3-1 to Brazil, who topped the table.

Kazakhstan went head-to-head with Thailand in a battle to claim the final qualification spot in Pool C and registered an impressive 25-15, 25-22, 25-20 victory in Verona.

The United States secured top spot in the Pool by inflicting a 3-1 defeat on defending champions Russia, who finished second, while The Netherlands cruised past Mexico in straight sets to confirm third place.

Meanwhile in Pool D, Belgium won 25-20, 25-17, 25-19 against Puerto Rico in Bari to advance to the second round and were joined by Azerbaijan, who overcame Cuba 25-20, 25-27, 25-20, 25-22.

In the battle for top spot, China and Japan played out a five-set thriller with the former prevailing 25-16, 18-25, 25-27, 25-17, 15-11. 

Kazakhstan prevailed in their winner-takes-all match with Thailand ©Getty Images



The qualifiers from Pool A had already been decided before the final round of matches in Rome. 

Hosts Italy ended in first place, despite losing 3-2 to the Dominican Republic, who finished second.

Croatia secured third spot after beating Germany 3-2, while already-eliminated Argentina signed off their campaign with a straight-sets victory against bottom side Tunisia. 

The second round crossovers, due to run from Wednesday (October 1) to Sunday (October 5), will see the four qualifiers from Pools A and D go up against each other, in Pool E, and the four qualifiers from Pools B and C do likewise, in Pool F.

Records against teams which have advanced from the first round carry over to the second round.