Qatar have signed with FIVB to stage the Qatar Open Beach Volleyball Tournament for three years and it is now setting their eyes on a Grand Slam Tour event.
The Qatar Open, a part of the FIVB World Beach Volleyball Tour event, began at the Qatar Beach Volleyball Academy courts in Al Gharafa Club on Tuesday. The five-day men-only event will conclude on Saturday (November 8).
Qatar Volleyball Association Secretary-General Mohammed Ali al Mohannadi, while speaking at a press conference in Doha on Tuesday, informed, “Our contract for the Qatar Open with the FIVB is for three years. We’re also trying for a Grand Slam event and hopefully, we’ll get it for the 2015 and 2016 seasons.”
Also present during the press conference were QVA Executive Director Ahmed al Sheebani and FIVB Technical Supervisor Joep van Iersel.
At the moment, only men players will be seen in the action at the Qatar Open, which is one of the only two men-only tournaments on the tour. But the Grand Slam event means that Qatar will have to host both men and women beach volleyball players. If Qatar succeed in their bid, two big beach volleyball tournaments may give a huge fillip to the sport not only in the country but also in the region as well.
“We warmly welcome the players, officials and guests to the Qatar Open. Many top players in the world are here and we hope to have a highly competitive event in Doha. The fans will hopefully turn up in big numbers and love the action at Al Gharafa Club,” he added.
FIVB Technical Supervisor Iersel was impressed with the facilities and the scales at which the QVA is hosting the Qatar Open.
“I was surprised to see the venue for the Qatar Open. It is not new. It appears to have been used several times. It is beautiful facility for the opening beach volleyball event in Qatar. It looks good enough even to hold even a bigger event. It can be also used for a double gender or a Grand Slam event,” he added.
“Next year, The Netherlands are hosting the World Championships at four places. The facilities in those places are also similar to what we have here. So this place can also host a world championship in future too,” he added.
Iersel also said getting many trained volunteers in Qatar for bigger events may be a problem. “The facilities are really very impressive but I feel Qatar may not have enough volunteers needed for the matches. I feel about 70 well-trained volunteers are used to work during the match or around the place. So this is one area where Qatar has to focus on in the future or it will have to get them from outside.”
The FIVB official feels the Qatar Open will produce very close-fought matches.
“We don’t have all the top players in the world as they are having a break before getting busy preparing for the next season. Still the Qatar Open has got some very strong players. So I hope there will be many strong matches.
“The level of beach volleyball is going higher all over the world. Earlier, the players used to play open volleyball and then they were getting involved in the beach volleyball. Now a new generation of professional players is coming and this is a good sign for the sport.
“If Qatar or the region hosts more tournaments, it will certainly help the beach volleyball players grow and the standards will rise in the region as well,” Iersel said.
Meanwhile, the qualifying round began and Qatar’s Ahmed Tijan and Cherif Younousse had a brilliant chance of moving into the second round. But the local players, despite coming back strongly and winning the second set, could not sustain the momentum and lost to Oman’s Haitham and Ahmed in three sets.
In the rest of the matches, 15 teams were given bye into the second round. And the qualifiers for the main round were Plantinga and Wheelan (Canada), Salvetti and Daguerre (France), Betzien and Rudolf (Germany), Sheaf and Gregory (England), Eglseer and Mullner (Austria), Court-Schumann (Australia) and Tomas and Menendez (Spain).
Eglseer and Mullner were involved in the only three-setter before getting the better of Roberts and Crabb from the USA in 44 minutes.
On Wednesday, the main round matches will begin and three Qatari pairs – Tiago Santos and Jefferson, Abdelaziz Khallouf and Tamer Abdelrasoul and Assam Mahmoud and Sultan Asif – will be seen in the action.
Results – Round 2
Ajanako-Sarpong GHA [15] lost to Plantinga-Wheelan CAN [0] 0-2 (13-21, 16-21) 0:39
Salvetti-Daguerre FRA [0] beat Denin-Popov UKR [10] 2-0 (25-23, 21-16) 0:44
Betzien-Rudolf GER [0] beat Mermer-Sekerci TUR [6] 2-0 (21-19, 21-17) 0:19
Sheaf-Gregory ENG [0] beat Pustynnikov-Bogatu KAZ [14] 2-0 (21-17, 21-17) 0:35
Roberts-Crabb USA [13] lost to Eglseer-Müllner AUT [0] 1-2 (21-18, 12-21, 14-16) 0:44
Court-Schumann AUS [0] beat Opsahl-Nordstrand NOR [12] 2-0 (21-13, 21-8) 0:32
Tomás-Menéndez ESP [0] beat Li Zhuoxin-Zhang Lizeng CHN [8] 2-0 (21-16, 21-17) 0:35
Hordvik-Eithun NOR [0] beat HAITHAM-AHMED OMA [16] 2-0 (21-12, 21-6) 0:26