Qatar’s beach volleyball pair of Cherif Younousse and Tijan Ahmed registered their third consecutive victories in the Pool C to remain unbeaten and enter the pre-quarter-finals of the Tokyo Games on Friday. At Shiokaze Park, the World No 1 Qatari pair defeated USA’s Jacob Gibb and Tri Bourne (2-0) 21-18, 21-17 to maintain an all-win record and top the pool without dropping a set. Younousse and Tijan began their Olympic campaign with a 21-17, 21-16 victory over Adrian Heidrich and Mirco Gerson of Switzerland on Sunday then they edged past Italy’s Adrian Carambula and Enrico Rossi on Wednesday.
Yesterday, the Americans were off to a fine start as they were leaving the Qatari duo 1-4 in the first set. However, the Qatari pair fought back into the game. They took control of the game with some fine serves and won the game 21-18. In the second set, the Qatari players were leading 20-13, but the Americans gelled well to score three quick points to minimize the lead, but they couldn’t finish the game.
Gibb and Bourne joined the Qatari pair in the round of 16 as the second-placed team from the group. The top two teams across six groups qualify for the knockout phase and are joined by the two best third-placed teams. Two more places in the first knockout round are decided after a play-off between the four remaining third-placed teams.