Russian and Japanese pairs proved their power in the pool again at the 28th Olympic Games when they led the standing after the technical section of the duet synchronized swimming on Monday.

As expected, defending champions the two Anastasia's Davydova and Ermakova of Russia overshadowed the rest of the field by their flawless performance, earning a 49.417 points ahead of their long- time rival Miya Tachina and Miho Takedo from Japan.

The Japanese pair, who had to settle for silvers at Sydney Olympics and last year's world championships in Barcelona, Spain, collected 49.000 for the second spot followed by pairs from the United States, Spain, France and Canada.

Miya Tachina said, "We have done very well. We will do even better and we hope to do better than the Russian rivals. "

Chinese swimmers Gu Beibei/Zhang Xiaohua, who opened the competition as the first pair, had 46.584 points to confirm a seventh position.

Twenty four pairs competed in the technical section of the duet synchronized swimming at the Olympic Aquatic Center. The free routine section starts on August 24 and final take place on August 25.

Each team needed to complete a two and a half minute routine which include seven compulsory elements joined together in a creative presentation. Competitors are marked on the technical excellence and on the overall impression giving a possible total of 50 points.

Team preliminary and finals will be held on August 26-27.

Following are the results from the duet synchronized swimming competition of the Olympic Games here on Monday:

Technical routine

1. Davydova Anastasia/Ermakova Anastasia, Russia, 49.417 points

2. Tachibana Miya/Takeda Miho, Japan, 49.000

3. Bartosik Alison/Kozlova Anna, United States, 48.334

4. Mengual Gemma/Tirados Paola, Spain, 47.917

5. Dedieu Virginie/Thibaud Laure, France, 47.667

6. Letourneau Fanny/Stewart Courtenay, Canada, 47.500

7. Gu Beibei/Zhang Xiaohuan, China, 46.584

8. Spaziana Beatrice/Zaffalon Lorena, Italy, 46.500

9. Ftouli Eleftheria/Thalassinidou Christina, Greece, 46.334

10. Gayvoronska Iryna/Yushko Darya, Ukraine, 45.417

11. Sui Brunner Magdalena/Schmid Belinda, Switzerland, 45.334

12. Moraes Carolina/Moraes Isabela, Brazil, 45.167

13. Van der Velden Bianca/Van der Velden Sonja, Netherlands, 44. 334

14. Kim Sung Eun/Yoo Na Mi, South Korea, 43.834

15. Bernardova Sona/Bursova Ivana, Czech Republic, 43.750

16. Gloushkov Anastasia/Yoffe Inna, Israel, 42.750

17. Falcon Nara/Vargas Olga, Mexico, 43.667

18. Karimova Aliya/Toktagan Arna, Kazakhstan, 42.250

18. Markovich Khrystsina/Vlasenka Nastassia, Belarus, 42.250

20. Anastassova Assia/Zareva Bogdana, Bulgaria, 41.583