Russia thrashed their opponents 25-8, 25-17, 25-13, with Slovenia finishing third and setting up a knockout tie against Group B runners-up The Netherlands.

Croatia finished second in the group as they saw off Czech Republic 25-8, 25-16, 25-15.

They will play Latvia in the next round, while the Czechs face Group B winners Ukraine.

Ukraine rounded off their group stage efforts with an impressive 25-19, 25-9, 25-16 victory against the Dutch, while Latvia picked up their first win of the tournament as they beat Italy 25-22, 25-18, 25-20.

Bosnia and Herzegovina had won four successive European titles before Russia clinched back-to-back golds, and they eased past Hungary 25-11, 25-8, 25-12 to top Group C.

Poland wrapped up second place in the group and consigned Georgia to fourth courtesy of a 25-22, 25-18, 24-26, 25-11 triumph.

France will be Bosnia and Herzegovina's round of 16 opponents, as they lost a third successive Group A match, this time 25-8, 25-8, 25-13 to Germany.

The Germans in contrast move into the knockout stages with a 100 per cent record, and will play Georgia.

Hosts Turkey lost all three sets 25-18 to Serbia as the teams finished third and second respectively.

Poland are up next for the home nation, while Hungary stand in Serbia's way of a quarter-final berth.

In the women's tournament, Turkey's prospects of progressing to the knockout stages took a further blow as they suffered a fourth consecutive defeat to leave the bottom of Group A.

They were beaten 25-15, 25-8, 25-13 by the other winless team in the group in Croatia, who sit fifth.

The bottom two sides in the six-team Group A will be joined by the last placed country in the five-team Group B in a three-team group that determines the placement for the bottom three ranked sides.

The top four in each group advance to the knockout phase.

Germany continued their unblemished record in Group A as they triumphed 25-12, 25-16, 25-13 in the first of Croatia's two matches today, before the Germans beat third placed Poland 25-16, 25-20, 25-14 in their second match of the day.

Slovenia occupy second place as they won 25-17, 25-22, 25-23 against fourth placed Finland.

In Group B, Russia continued their bid for a third successive title with a third win from as many matches.

They hammered fourth placed Hungary 25-8, 25-8, 25-9.

Italy leapfrogged Ukraine into second place with a 25-18, 28-26, 25-21 victory.

The Netherlands did not play today, but prop up the group with one match remaining.

Tomorrow sees the group stage draw to a close in the women's tournament, while the quarter-final line-up in the men's competition will be confirmed after the eight round of 16 ties.