Team Qatar advance to beach volleyball final at Asian Games
HANGZHOU - Qatar’s ace beach volleyball pair of Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan moved into the final of the event at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou on Tuesday, raising hopes of Qatar’s first gold medal.
The World No. 3ranked Younousse and Tijan beat Kazakstan’s Dmitry Yakovlev and Sergey Bogatu in straight sets 21-9, 21-19 in the semi-final in 34 minutes at the Ningbo Banbianshan Beach Volleyball Centre.
The World No. 3 and Tokyo Olympic bronze medallists had little trouble in the first set, but were given a stern test in the second by the Kazakh pair. “Our defense was working well today. We are more balanced in attacking and defense. But we need to do better in the next game,” said Tijan after the match.
On Thursday, Younousse and Tijan will start as favourites against Chinese pair of Mutailipu Abuduhalikejiang and Jiaxin Wu, who beat Iran’s Abbas Pourasgari and Alireza Aghajanighasab 26-24, 21-16 in the second semi-final.
Qatar’s beach volleyball team manager Muhammad Anbar expressed delight at Younousse and Tijan qualifying for the final. He however stressed that the match wasn’t as easy, especially in the second half, pointing out that the experience of Qatar pair helped them overcome the opponents.
He said: “Now we have one step ahead of us in the final against the Chinese and we are confident that with persistence and with determination of the supporters we shall fetch the gold medal. We are happy with this achievement and we hope to win the final against China, even though it is a difficult one, and get the gold medal.”
Share this News
Google
Apple
Facebook