Younousse and Tijan to take a shot at bronze

Tokyo: Qatar’s beach volleyball duo of Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan will gun for the bronze medal of Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games when they take on Latvia’s Martins Plavins and Edgars Tocs in the third-place match on Saturday. In the semifinals held on Thursday, the Qatari paired suffered a straight set defeat at the hands of Russia’s reigning world champions and World No. 2 Viacheslav Krasilnikov and Oleg Stoyanovskiy while Plavins and Tocs lost their semifinals match to Norway’s former World No. 1 pair of Anders Mol and Christian Sorum. The two teams have met three times so far with Cherif and Tijan having a 2-1 lead. The Qatari pair won the last match between the two teams in 2019 FIVB Gstaad Major 26-24 21-19. If the Qatari duo do clinch a medal, it will be Qatar’s third from the games and will round off the nation’s best-ever finish at the quadrennial games. Team Qatar's weightlifter Fares Ibrahim claimed the gold medal of Men's 96kg category, then Mutaz Barshim added Qatar's second gold medal in Men's High Jump event

Younousse and Tijan go down fighting in Olympic Semifinals

Tokyo: Qatar's Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan suffered a straight set defeat at the hands of the Russian Olympic Committee’s Viacheslav Krasilnikov and Oleg Stoyanovskiy in the semifinals of Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games on Thursday. The first set of the semifinal duel between the teams of Qatar and the ROC was really tight. Cherif and Ahmed managed to recover from a three-point deficit and work out a two-point lead of their own, but, in the money time, Krasilnikov and Stoyanovskiy stayed more focused to grab a narrow edge. After 11-11 in the second set, the Europeans took the lead for good. They kept the pressure on to increase the gap until Stoyanovskiy closed it off at 2-0 (21-19, 21-17) with a monster block. In the other semifinals match, Anders Mol and Christian Sorum of Norway defeated Latvia’s Martins Plavins and Edgars Tocs 2-0 (21-15, 21-16). The Qatari duo will have their sight now set on the bronze medal as they will take on Plavins and Tocs in third-place match for Saturday. The two teams have met three times so far with Younousse and Tijan having a 2-1 lead. The Qatari pair won the last match between the two teams in 2019 FIVB Gstaad Major 26-24 21-19.

Younousse and Tijan storm into Olympic semifinals

Tokyo: Qatar's Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan progressed to the semifinals of the Tokyo 2020 men’s Olympic beach volleyball tournament after a straight-set victory over Italy’s Paolo Nicolai and Daniele Lupo in the quarterfinals held at Shiokaze Park on Wednesday. Nicolai and Lupo could not hold on to the three-point lead they opened early into their match with Cherif and Ahmed. After 8-8, the Qatari team took control of the scoreboard and never let go through the end of the first set. The second set was far more competitive, and the Italians even pushed it to overtime. They denied two Qatari match points, but on the third one Cherif killed to stop the clocks at 2-0 (21-17, 23-21).  “I’m grateful to be in the semifinal, because it took us maybe six or seven years to build this team. It’s a long process. But we trust the process. For sure, the road is going to be very difficult; there will be some ups and downs. But we didn’t give up and we’re thankful to be here,” said Cherif.  “It was a very tough game mentally. They were playing really well and not giving up. Now we’ll get a good rest, because tomorrow we are going to be here again.” He added. In the semifinals to be staged on Thursday, the Qatari duo will take on the reigning world champions Viacheslav Krasilnikov and Oleg Stoyanovskiy of the Russian Olympic Committee who booked their semifinals spot after beating Germany’s Julius Thole and Clemens Wickler 2-0 (21-16, 21-19) on Wednesday.

Mutaz Barshim: Proud of splitting high jump gold medal

Tokyo: Team Qatar star Mutaz Barshim, who claimed the gold in the high jump competition in the athletics competitions at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, which is currently being held in Japan, and will run until August 8, spoke with pride about his decision to share the gold medal with his Italian colleague Gianmarco Tampere. In a press statement today, Barshim said, "The decision to share the Olympic gold medal was a purely emotional decision which reflects my respect and love for my fellow competitor. I know how much it means to win gold. The opportunity to share gold is something I will cherish for the rest of my life." Tamberi celebrated loudly after Barshim agreed to share the gold, and hugged his Qatari friend in a snapshot that attracted world attention and was widely praised. This is the first time an Olympic gold in athletics has been shared since the 1912 Stockholm Olympics in the pentathlon and decathlon. The Qatari star added that he hopes he can inspire people that the participation and support of colleagues is one of the most powerful gifts we have. Barshim added, "As an individual sport, high jumping imposed on me a lot of loneliness and personal exercises, and a lot of sacrifices, challenges and difficult times that were the price of winning gold." He pointed out that this edition of the games was the most difficult in the history of the Olympic Games in the modern era. It is difficult to find three players who clear a height of 2.37 m. And about his relationship with his Italian competitor, Barshim explained by saying, "Tamberi and I have been friends for 11 years. We were in the youth category, then in the general category, then professionalism, and we have a friendship that is not only within the competition, and he was injured in 2016 and the same was repeated in 2018, and he performed the same operation, And when something like this happens, it is very difficult to return, especially with psychological and moral pressure, as well as very difficult to return to running and jumping at a high level in the world championships, and he worked to improve his return and so did I, and we reached 2.37 m and there was a "playoff" option to make a jump Another to see who would win, and as an advantage I was better than him personally and he knew that, and the referee came to explain the new law that allows two players to win gold." Speaking about the Aspire Academy, the Qatari athlete stressed that Aspire enhances your sports and educational excellence. "Before that, things were difficult because of the lack of coordination between study and exercise, but in the academy, things have changed by organizing training and studying times. The educational level is very strong, As well as the sports culture is very strong, the sports champions are always present to answer the students' questions and this generates a great impact on the mentality of the student, and makes you live in a sports atmosphere." He said. The Olympic champion Mutaz Barshim succeeded in embracing glory and writing history at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, when he won the gold medal in the high jump, to be the first Qatari champion to win three Olympic medals in three consecutive sessions. He won bronze in 2012 in London, and silver in Rio 2016 Brazil, then Tokyo 2020 gold medal. The Golden Falcon has also imposed himself as the best in the world in recent years as he added this Olympic gold medal to his back to back gold medal at world championships in 2017 and 2019. Barshim became a model for the Qatari athletes that everyone is proud of and a model for the international athletes, thanks to his high morals. His golden moment was historic when he agreed to share the gold with Italian Tampere, in a scene described as the best in the "Tokyo Olympics" The success of the Golden Falcon in presenting an honorable image of the Qatari, Gulf and Arab athlete did not stop there, but rather became the first Asian athlete to win three Olympic medals in athletics, a new achievement added to the honorable record of the Qatari champion with global successes and high morals. (QNA)

Abderrahman Samba finishes fifth

Tokyo: Qatar's Abderrahman Samba set a season best of 47:12 seconds to finish men's 400mh final at Tokyo 2020 Olympics in the 5th place.  At the Olympic Stadium on Tuesday, Norway's Karsten Warholm produced a devastating performance to smash the world record and claim the gold medal.  USA's Rai Benjamin took the silver medal while Brazil’s Alison Dos Santos claimed the bronze medal.  After the race, Abderrahman Samba stressed that the time he set in 400mh on Tuesday will give him an extra motivation ahead of the future events.  "I will have my sight set on World Athletics Championships next year and Paris 2024 Olympics" said Samba.  On the other hand, Femi Ogunode's hopes of winning an Olympic medal were dashed after clocking a time of 20.34 seconds to be eliminated from the semifinals.  For their part, Qatar's Musab Adam and Abdirahman Saeed Hassan crashed out Men's 1500m event on Tuesday.  Musab Adam clocked a time of 3:42:55 minutes to finish heat 1 in the 15th place while Abdirahman Saeed Hassan was unable to finish his heat. 

Younousse and Tijan to take on Italy's Nicolai and Lupo in Tokyo quarterfinals

Tokyo: Qatar's beach volleyball duo of Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan will take on Italy's Paolo Nicolai and Daniele Lupo in the quarterfinals of Men's beach volleyball competition at the Tokyo Olympics on Wednesday. Younousse and Tijan entered the quarterfinals after defeating USA’s Philip Dalhausser and Nicholas Lucena on Sunday while Italy's Paolo Nicolai and Daniele Lupo cruised to the same stage after their 2-0 (22-20, 21-18) victory over Michal Bryl and Grzegorz Fijalek of Poland. Younousse and Ahmed defeated the Italian duo in the quarterfinals of Cancun Hub tournament in April while Nicolai and Lupo emerged victorious from the last match between the two teams at the FIVB four-star tournament in Sochi in May.