London 2012 Olympic bronze medallist Jānis Šmēdiņš partnered with Latvian compatriot Aleksandrs Samoilovs in the men's draw and faced off against Italians Daniele Lupo and Alex Ranghieri.

Despite two closely fought games, it was Ranghieri and Rio de Janeiro 2016 silver medallist Lupo who had the killer instinct and closed out a 21-19, 21-17 win in pool D.

Ranghieri was the star of the show as he tallied 17 attack points, three points, and two serve points at an efficiency percentage of 37.21.

Marta Ozolina and Luize Skrastina are expected to lead a Latvian charge in the women's event but suffered an early blow at the hands of Sara Hughes and Kelly Kolinske of the United States.

The Americans were dominant on all fronts as they pulled off a 21-13, 21-6 victory and were also helped by 11 errors committed by their opponents in a win that saw them shoot to the top of pool D.

Latvia's Tokyo 2020 Olympians Tina Graudin and Anastasija Kravčenoka were unable to capitalise on a first set triumph against Carolina Solberg Salgado and Barbara Seixas de Freitas.

The Brazilians battled back to win 19-21, 21-19, 15-11 in a dramatic fixture.

The result puts Graudin and Kravčenoka third in pool A that, apart from them, is completely made up of Brazilians.

Samoilovs and Šmēdiņš are back in action tomorrow against Samuele Cottafava and Paolo Nicolai at 12pm local time as the pool stage is set to conclude.