Abdelaziz Khallouf and Tamer Abdelrasoul bounced back from a defeat to beat Bahrain B 2-0 and qualify for the semi-finals of the second GCC Beach Games Volleyball on Saturday.
At Al Gharafa Club court, Khallouf and Abdelrasoul, who had lost a Group A match to Oman A’s Badr al Sobhi and Mazin al Hashmi 1-2, downed Bahrain’s Ali Hamza and Reda Abd al Hussain in straight sets to take the second place in the group.
In the Group B, made up of five teams, Qatar A’s Jefferson Pereira and Cherif Younousse topped the pool with maximum possible points. The second place went to Oman B team.
In the semi-finals, both Qatar and Oman are guaranteed a berth in the final as the A and B teams of the hosts will clash in one semi-final and the other one pits Oman A against Oman B.
Khallouf and Abdelrasoul faced some spirited resistance from Bahraini rivals Hamza and Hussain. Both the pairs went close till 14-14. At this stage, a fine service by Khallouf put the home team ahead. Khallouf followed it up with a deft cross-court placement to widen the lead to two points.
From this stage onwards, Khallouf and Abdelrasoul managed to stay ahead and closed out the set 21-16.
In the second set, Khallouf and Abdelrasoul exerted a great deal of pressure on the Bahrainis right from the start and built on an early lead of 8-4 with deep services and remarkable reflex returns. As a result, they moved up to 15-5 and then 20-8 before completing the formalities.
Khallouf commented after the last group match:”Yeah, we’re happy to be in the semi-finals. But we’re facing some problem. We lost to Oman in a match which we must win.
As a result, we’ll face our own team for a place in the final tomorrow.
“This was really bad luck for us. Mostly, we’ve been playing each other in the semi-finals. There was a good chance of topping the pool and we’d thought about having both the teams in the final.
“The Omanis are good and they have experience also. The problem with us was we could not play to our potential or level. We lost to them 1-2. Now we’ll fight hard to stay on the podium,” added Khallouf.
Qatar coach Pedro Paulo Costa said he had expected better game from Khallouf and Abdelrasoul against the main rivals Oman A.”In my point of view, my players could not use the advantage of playing at home. I was expecting a much better display from them and it should have been a lot closer match.
“We’d not thought about this kind of result. We were planning to have both the teams in the final. Now it is done. But at least, one Qatari team is now guaranteed either the gold or silver medal. We’ll fight for another place on the podium.
“The target was to reach the final and one team was able to make it there. Let us see what happens tomorrow,” said the Brazilian coach.