Asian Continental Cup qualifiers Jefferson Santos Pereira and Cherif Younousse of Qatar brightened their chances of advancing to the knock-out stage of the Rio Olympic Games men’s beach volleyball with a gritty come-from-behind victory over FIVB World Tour veterans Adrian Gavira and Pablo Herrera of Spain on Monday.
At the picturesque Copacabana Beach arena, Pereira and Younousse were rattled in the opening set but they staged a thrilling return and needed 55 minutes to post a 13-21 21-18 15-12 triumph over the experienced Spanish rivals in the Group F match.
This was the second clash between the pairs, with the Qataris having lost the previous one in three sets in Sochi, Russia about three months before.
After being dominated by the Spaniards in the first set, Jefferson and Cherif recovered from a 10-6 second set deficit to tie the set at 13s, 14s, 15s, 16s and 17s. A quick three-point run highlighted a 4-1 stretch for Qatar to end the set.
In the decider, Jefferson and Cherif broke from a 5-5 tie to start controlling the final set with both Pereira and Younousse backing each other well. They then held a 13-9 lead with Younousse serving two aces. He then got a touch-out to seal the thrilling victory for Qatar off the second match point.
Jefferson and Cherif, who dropped their opening Rio match Saturday in two sets to Jake Gibb and Casey Patterson of the United States, are now tied with the Spaniards in Pool F and finish group play on Wednesday against Austrians Alexander Huber and Robin Seidl. Gavira and Herrera, who defeated Huber and Seidl in three sets on Saturday, will play the Americans next.
Qatar coach Pedro Paulo Costa was ecstatic with the performance of his players and commented after the match: “We were expecting a hard match but at the same time, we knew that we could play much better than we did against the USA.
“We started very bad, even worse than the US match but the guys could reorganise themselves and focus on what we agreed before the match. It was really an awesome recovery today,” he added.
The coach said the victory has given a big boost to Qatar. “Now our chances to qualify for the pre-quarter-finals have increased but I want them to play well right from the beginning. I wish we don’t have to recover like today’s match against Austria on Wednesday.
“One of our strategies was to call the supporters to our side and it had a big effect on the final result. I feel that Qatar are now the second team of the Brazilian crowd. I wish we we take advantage of this in our next match again,” said Costa.
Written by: Raajiv Tripathi, Qatar Tribune