Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan in action during their Pool H match against Mexico’s Jose Luis Rubio Camargo and Josue Gaston Gaxiola Leyva yesterday.
Doha: Home favourites Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan had to work hard for their place on top of Pool H as the Qatari beach volleyball stars advanced directly to the eighth-finals of the Katara Beach Volleyball Cup yesterday.
At Al Gharafa Sports Complex yesterday, the pool winners in the first stage of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour 4-star event main draw', eight men’s teams won two matches each to qualify.
The eighth-seeded Qatari stars started their day with a 2-0 (22-20, 21-15) win over Austria’s Robin Seidl and Philipp Waller and followed up with a 2-1 (21-19, 18-21, 15-11) victory over Mexico’s Jose Luis Rubio Camargo and Josue Gaston Gaxiola Leyva.
Second-seeded Julius Thole and Clemens Wickler of Germany won Pool B, fourth-seeded Taylor Crabb and Jacob Gibb of USA won Pool D, sixth-seeded Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen of the Netherlands won Pool F and seventh-seeded Paolo Nicolai and Daniele Lupo of Italy won Pool G, each on two straight-set victories.
26-year-old Czechs Ondrej Perusic and David Schweiner stormed through their Pool C matches without losing a single set and deservedly booked their spot among the last 16 of the competition.
First, they hammered out a 2-0 (21-18, 21-16) shutout of Canada’s Ben Saxton and Grant O'Gorman, but then had to face the team of reigning Olympic champion Alison Cerutti and his current teammate Alvaro Morais Filho, seeded third in the main draw bracket.
The Czechs persevered through an extended first set to take the lead, and in the second their impenetrable blocking overwhelmed the Brazilians as Perusic and Schweiner celebrated a 2-0 (23-21, 21-15) victory.
Also yesterday, six out of eight Women’s Pool finals were decided in tie-breaks as the winners came forward and claimed their spots among the last 16 of the competition.
The winners of Pool B were determined in a big all-American clash between USA’s top two pairs - Alix Klineman and April Ross against Brooke Sweat and Kerri Walsh Jennings.
With legendary teammates and opponents Ross and Walsh Jennings on opposite sides of the net, the two teams engaged in a hard-fought three-set battle. Alix and April mastered a 2-1 (21-17, 20-22, 15-10) victory.
An American pair also won Pool C. In the pool final, Emily Stockman and Kelley Kolinske came back from a set down against Russia’s Mariia Bocharova and Aleksandra Ganenko to claim a 2-1 (16-21, 21-19, 15-11) victory.
Earlier in the day, the young Russian qualifiers delivered a 2-1 (21-19, 13-21, 15-10) upset of third-seeded Brazilans Agatha Bednarczuk and Eduarda Santos Lisboa (Duda).
