Volleyroos chase Rio berth
A fit and firing Nathan Roberts says the Australian men's volleyball team is perfectly poised to grab a ticket to Rio at the Olympic qualification tournament starting this weekend in Japan.
The indoor team is playing in an eight-team competition over the next week, with the top four advancing to Rio.
One of those teams must be from Asia, which is the Volleyroos' confederation.
While the odds sound good, the competition is fierce with some of the top-ranked sides in action including current European and World League champions France, and world championship bronze medallists, Poland.
Roberts was part of Australia's Olympic campaign in London, but has battled a number of injuries since.
The 30-year-old underwent elbow surgery 10 months ago and said he's finally pain-free.
"Probably when I started playing three or four months ago it was still pulling up pretty sore but the last month I've been pretty happy with it and I feel pretty good," Roberts told AAP from Tokyo.
"I think I will be able to get through the tournament without any issues so I'll be able to concentrate on playing my best."
Australia qualified for London through the same tournament four years ago and Roberts said they were now a much more experienced side.
Nearly every member of the Australian squad plays in top European leagues, while the Volleyroos also regularly face the sport's big guns after being promoted to the World League.
The South Australian said the team was capable of beating anyone on their day.
"Over the last four years we have so it's a matter of putting it together consistently," Roberts said.
"It's difficult to do in a tournament like this but our ceiling is quite high."
Australia play seven games in nine days, opening against Iran, who are one of the Asian teams with Japan and China.
Roberts said they were a difficult first-up opponent.
"Iran are really tough as they were top six at the world championships and have been building a lot.
"We beat them at the last qualifiers and we did beat them at World Cup last year but in between they've beaten us both times."
