The Sitting Volleyball World Championships began in The Netherlands ©World ParaVolley

Defending men's champions Bosnia and Herzegovina and Paralympic gold medallists Iran both began the Sitting Volleyball World Championships with victory in The Netherlands today.

The Bosnians defeated Iraq in Pool D in Venlo, 25-10, 25-12, 25-12.

Iran, the Rio 2016 champions who beat Bosnia in the final in the Brazilian city, were similarly comfortable in their Pool B match against Japan.

They came through 25-8, 25-9, 25-16.

Other games today in Pool A saw hosts The Netherlands play Rwanda and they initially thought they had opened with a four set win, 25-21, 18-25, 25-15, 27-25.

However, the first set was later handed to the Dutch 25-0 after it was found that the Africans had played portions of the match with two VS2 classified players, which is against the rules.

United States and China met in the pool's other game and the Chinese came out on top, 25-13, 21-25, 25-18, 25-23.

In Pool B, Germany and Russia locked horns with the latter winning 25-18, 25-14, 26-24.

Pool C saw Brazil beat Croatia in four sets, 25-19, 25-16, 18-25, 25-16.

The other game in the pool saw Ukraine beat Kazakhstan 25-20, 25-15, 25-17.

The women's event also began today in Arnhem.

Holders China got off to the perfect start in Pool A as they saw off Italy in Group C, 25-14, 25-19, 25-9.

As with the men's event, the Paralympic champions also began strong as the US roared past Hungary 25-7, 25-3, 25-8 in Pool B.

In Pool A, Canada beat Rwanda 26-24, 25-9, 25-8 while the home Dutch side played Croatia and won 3-0, 25-11, 25-17, 25-9.

Russia beat Japan 3-0 in Pool B, 25-15, 25-16, 25-15.

Pool C also saw Iran play Slovenia with the former coming out on top 25-10, 25-12, 25-18.

Brazil won in Pool D, 25-8, 25-14, 25-7 over Egypt, with the other game between Ukraine and Finland ending 25-15, 27-25, 25-22 to the former.

Pool play continues tomorrow.