Canada's Ben Saxton, right, and Chaim Schalk celebrate a win over Brazil during a men's beach volleyball match at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2016. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)The Associated Press
Canadian beach volleyball duo Ben Saxton and Chaim Schalk were pushed to the limit in their win over host country Brazil on Tuesday.
After dropping the opening set 21-17 to Brazilians Evandro Goncalves Oliveira Junior and Pedro Solberg, Saxton and Schalk forged a comeback, winning the remaining two sets 21-18, 16-14.
"They got off to a jump in the first, but we were just able to grind 'em down and keep pushing, so I'm proud of our fight today," said Schalk of Red Deer, Alta.
"The (mainly Brazilian) crowd didn't really rattle us, it just gave us more energy — it was fun."
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Schalk and Calgary native Saxton lost their opening tournament match Sunday to Aleksandrs Samoilovs and Janis Smedins of Latvia.
The Canadian pair will wrap up pool play Wednesday when they take on Cuban duo Nivaldo Nadhir Diaz Gomez and Sergio Reynaldo Gonzalez Bayard.