Japan, world-ranked 11 and seeking a third consecutive title, had beaten Hong Kong China in straight sets the previous day.

They were similarly dominant against Thailand at the Azadi Sports Complex in Tehran, prevailing 25-19, 25-20, 25-13.

Chinese Taipei also registered a second win, overcoming Hong Kong China 25-11, 25-10, 25-17.

In pool A, the hosts wasted little time in registering their second win of the Championships, beating Qatar 25-18, 25-15, 25-17.

Australia beat Sri Lanka in the other pool A match, 25-15, 32-30, 25-13.

Second seeds Kazakhstan, who lost their opening match in Pool C to an unseeded India team, recovered their equilibrium with a straight-sets win over Oman – 25-21, 28-26, 25-16.

India were unable to pull off another shock win, losing to China, 25-16, 25-15, 25-21.

South Korea established themselves top of Pool D with a second win, this time over Kuwait, 25-14, 25-16, 25-11.

They are the only team in the pool with a perfect record following Indonesia's 3-2 defeat by Pakistan – 25-20, 26-24, 19-25, 20-25, 15-13.

The European Men's Championship is being played for the first time across four hosting countries – France, Belgium, The Netherlands and Slovenia, with Paris hosting the bronze- and gold-medal matches on September 28 and 29.

Russia, who beat Germany in the 2017 final, have made a solid start to their defence, having beaten Turkey and Belarus by the same score of 3-1 to take charge of Pool C, which is being played at the Stožice Arena in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

They followed this up today by beating North Macedonia 3-0.

Slovenia earned their second win of the Championships with a 3-1 result against Finland.

Serbia, the 2017 bronze medallists and one of the four top seeds, have also made a strong start, leading Pool B – being played at Palais 12 in Brussels – after a 3-0 win over the 2017 silver medallists, Germany.

Belgium, the team Serbia beat to bronze last time round, are also off to a winning start in Pool B having defeated Austria 3-0.

And today by Belgium won a tougher match against the 2017 silver medallists, Germany, coming through 25-23, 25-17, 22-25, 15-25, 15-13.

Slovakia beat Austria 3-1 in the final Pool B match of the day.

Of the other two top seeds, Italy have won both their opening Pool A matches – being played at Sud de France Arena in Montpellier – beating Portugal 3-0 and Greece 3-1.

The hosts, France, matched them today as they beat Greece 3-0.

While in the other pool A game Bulgaria beat Portugal 3-1.

The fourth side from the top pot, Poland, earned a 3-1 win over Estonia in Pool D, being played jointly in Rotterdam and Amsterdam.

While the Poles play again tomorrow, today’s pool D matches saw The Netherlands beat Ukraine 3-0 and Montenegro beat Estonia by the same score.