The Russians celebrate

Russia won 29-27 23-25 27-25 28-26 in a see-saw affair that lasted two hours.

Russia will now face Italy in Friday's semi-finals after they beat Argentina 22-25 25-22 26-24 28-26.

Greece went out 3-2 to the USA after throwing away a big lead in an epic battle in the Peace and Friednship Stadium, while Brazil beat Poland 3-0.

The Greeks had been 2-1 up and 20-12 ahead in the fourth set when they began to falter.

Some simple mistakes saw the USA get back into the set, eventually clinching it 27-25 to draw level.

In the tie-break fifth set, the Greeks were 12-9 ahead and had match point at 14-13 - but Antrei Kravarik served a double fault.

The US eventually won 25-20, 22-25, 25-27, 25-23, 17-15 in two hours and 16 minutes.

"This was one of the most important games in my whole career and perhaps the most dramatic," Greek coach Stylianos Prosalikas said.

"It will be decades, really, before we can recover from the defeat."

Meanwhile Russia's coach, Gennady Shipulin, was delighted with his team's efforts in deposing the champions.

"It's difficult to express my emotions right now. I am very, very happy," he said.