Doha: Qatar’s Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan advanced to the semi-finals of the Paris Olympics men’s beach volleyball competition by defeating USA’s Miles Partain and Andrew Benesh in straight sets yesterday. The win, which came in 39 minutes with a 21-14, 21-16 score-line set up a rematch for the Tokyo Games bronze winners Younousse and Tijan against Sweden’s World No.1 pair David Ahman and Jonatan Hellvig today.
Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) President H E Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al Thani and FIFA President Gianni Infantino were among the spectators as Younousse and Tijan produced another dominant performance at the Eiffel Tower Stadium to move within the touching distance from the Paris Olympics podium. The Qatar pair, seeded 13th at the Paris Games, had earlier beaten the top favourites Swedes Ahman and Hellvig in their second match in Pool A, where the Qatari duo mounted a stunning comeback from a set down to clinch a 2-1 (15-21, 21-19, 20-18) win in a tie-breaker dubbed the most exhilarating clash of the preliminary round. Ahman and Hellvig advanced to the semi-finals on Tuesday with a convincing victory over eighth-seeded Evandro Oliveira and Arthur Mariano.
The reigning European champions and the World Championship silver medalists, Ahman and Hellvig swept past the Brazilian pair with a 21-17, 21-16 win to claim a spot in the last four stage. Dubbed the Swedish jump-setters, Ahman and Hellvig are now on a 3-2 win-loss record at the Olympics. In yesterday’s earlier quarter-final clash, the reigning Olympic champions Anders Mol and Christian Sorum of Norway overpowered Spain’s Pablo Herrera and Adrian Gavira 2-0 (21-16, 21-17) to set up a semi-final clash with Germany’s Nils Ehlers and Clemens Wickler.
Ehlers and Wickler, ranked third in the world, advanced to the semis on Tuesday afternoon after defeating Netherlands’ Stefan Boermans and Yorick de Groot with a 2-0 (22-20, 21-15) win..
