An action during the Group A beach volleyball match between Qatar and Chile yesterday. Picture: Anvar Sadath
Cherif Younousse once again led Qatar from the front to script a 2-0 (21-13, 21-18) win over Chile in the quarter-finals of the 4x 4 beach volleyball of the ANOC World Beach Games at Al Gharafa Club yesterday.
The hosts now take on Poland in today’s semi-finals which starts at 6.00pm. Poland defeated Germany 21-11, 21-9 to qualify for the last four stage. In the other semi-final, USA downed Mozambique 21-14, 21-13 to make it to the semi-finals and will clash with Indonesia who rallied after losing the first set to win 23-25, 21-16, 15-9 against Australia.
Younousse was delighted with the win and said their target is now to win gold.
“It’s a big step, yes, but I think we can do better. There are some things we missed, but inshallah, the next game we try to avoid that. Now everybody has their eyes on us, so we need to be ready 100%, to beat each team that is in front of us. It’s a good experience,” said Younousse after the win over Chile.
“We focused for every single ball. Fight, fight for each ball. We’ll try to keep that focus the next two games,” he added.
Younousse they have been trying to regroup after injury to team-mate Ahmed Tijan, who will miss the Games.“Yeah, he’s still hurt. He’s out of the tournament. He just supports the team. He’s out for a few weeks. It’s a big blow. But we can manage.”
Qatar topped Group A a after winning three consecutive games, where they beat Indonesia, and followed it up by beating United States of America and Germany. Meanwhile, the women’s semi-final will begin from 4.00pm. Beach volleyball powerhouse Brazil kept themselves in course for gold by qualifying for the last four stage.
Also making it to the semi-finals were United States of America, Australia and Canada.
Brazil downed Gambia 21-6, 21-9 while Australia edged past Czech republic 21-14, 21-14. Canada packed enough fire power in their spikes to get past the defensive wall of Nigeria 21-11, 22-20. United States also qualified after getting past the tough challenge of Vanuatu 21-6, 21-9.
