Qatari team A and B qualified for the AVC Continental Cup Beach Volleyball Finals, with thrilling 2-1 victories over the Omani rivals at the Qatar Beach Volleyball Academy court on Sunday.
Jefferson Santosh Pereira and Cherif Younnouse put the hosts 1-0 up when they beat Ahmed al Housni and Mazin al Hashmi 21-12 19-21 15-9. New pair of Assam Ahmed Mahmoud and Ahmed Tijan overpowered experienced duo of Badar al Subhi and Haitham al Shereiqi 21-17 15-21 18-16 to win the West Asian qualifiers.
Only Qatar and Oman fielded the teams. Kuwait were interested to contest but the International Olympic Committee’s recent suspension forced them to withdraw.
The AVC Continental Cup Finals are scheduled from June 15 to 21, 2016 in Australia and the winner will directly qualify for the Rio Olympic Games.
Athletic and fired up Pereira and Younnouse gave a flying start to the home team, winning the opening set at 12. In the second, both Housni and Hashmi piled early pressure on Pereira and Younnouse with good serves and clean hits, taking 6-2 lead.
The local pair rallied spiritedly and came close to drawing level on many occasions. However, the Omani team wriggled out of tight positions and won the set to make it 1-1.
In the tie-break set, Pereira and Younnouse collected four points in a row after 7-7 to open an encouraging lead. Younnouse, backed up by the senior partner Pereira, got a fine touch out, blocked Hashmi (9-7).
Hashmi was then forced to spike the ball out. Younnouse foiled Hashmi at the net again. This was more than enough for Qatar to progress confidently and seal the set and the rubber when Hashmi smashed wide.
Pereira said after the match,”Now we got into the finals and we’re very delighted. The Continental Cup in Australia is the last chance for us to go to Rio. This is the target we’d been practising for quite some time.
“We have to train harder not only for the Continental Cup finals, but also for the next season. We’ll go all out to make the Rio dream a reality,” said Pereira.
Younnouse was excited and said,”It was a fighting match. It is not easy to play against this kind of team. We showed our level and won the match. They always play very hard against us. There was a lot of stress on us as we were just thinking about winning here. We knew if we are past Oman, the Finals will not be that tough.”
Mahmoud and Tijan, who teamed up in August only, dished out an inspiring game, continuing their good Qatar Open form. They clinched the first set to force Subhi and Shereiqi on the backfoot. The Omanis however turned the heat on the local pair. They won the second set and led till 10-8 in the decider.
At this stage, Mahmoud strung together four points and turned around the set and the match. With Qatar now leading 12-10, the Omanis had their game falling apart. Shereiqi lost two points and Oman trailed 11-13.
Qatar earned the first match point with Mahmoud clipping the sidelines. Oman struck back and tied at 15-15. Mahmoud and Tijan set up another match point, which Subhi negated with a smash. Finally, Qatar converted another match point and Mahmoud blocked Subhi to clinch it.
A thrilled Mahmoud commented,”Thanks God, we managed to finish our job successfully. The second Omani team is much more experienced than us and controlled the match for long period from the second set onwards.
“We came back into the tie-break a bit late but we showed our character and put them under a lot of pressure before winning the match. Ahmed is young and strong support to me. Being senior, I’m trying to help as much as I can.
“The Qatar Open gave us a big boost. After qualifying for the first round there against some high level players, we’re in very positive frame of mind. We were focused and determined for the match against Oman.
“We’ve been winning in the Gulf and Arab events regularly. So the Rio Olympics qualification is our main target. We’ll make the best possible preparations and try to do our best in Australia,” added Mahmoud.
Qatar Volleyball Academy Executive Director Ahmed Sheebani said,”This victory is a very important step for us. We’d been working hard for this. We’re very glad with the performance of our players. We’ve enough time to get the team into a strong shape and hopefully, we’ll try to achieve our aim of qualifying for the Olympics.”
Qatar national team coach Pedro Paulo Costa,”We were expecting a tough match from Oman as they have been playing beach volleyball for longer time than us. We’re really very excited with our qualification for the Continental Cup finals. We also have some time to train harder and be ready for the final qualification round in Australia.”
Results
Qatar A (Jefferson Santos Pereira & Cherif Younnouse) beat Oman A (Ahmed al Housni & Mazin al Hashmi) 21-12 19-21 15-9
Qatar B (Assam Ahmed Mahmoud & Ahmed Tijan) beat Oman B (Badar al Subhi & Haitham al Shereiqi) 21-17 15-21 18-16