Qatar duo Cherif and Ahmed through to AVC Beach Tour Pingtan Open Semifinals

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May 11, 2025
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11-May-2025

Qatar duo Cherif and Ahmed through to AVC Beach Tour Pingtan Open Semifinals

Pingtan, China– As Cherif Younousse/Ahmed Tijan continued remarkable unbeaten run to secure their semifinal slot in the AVC Beach Tour Pingtan Open at Beach Sport base of Pingtan, here on Saturday, Australia has at least one pair through to the men’s final as Ben Hood/Oliver Merritt and D’Artagnan Potts/Jack Pearse will fight it out in the all-Australian semifinal encounter.

In the Sunday morning’s semifinals, Qatar’s top-seeded Cherif/Ahmed, current world No.12 who are chasing dreams of winning three AVC Beach Tour titles in a row after claiming the first two outings in the Samila Open in Songkhla, Thailand and the Doha Open on their home soil.

On Saturday, Cherif/Ahmed, bronze medallists at the Tokyo Olympics and former three-time Asian champions mastered Japan’s Kai Kurakawa/Ryuichi Adachi 2-0 (21-9, 21-11) in round of 16 before powering past Thailand’s Banlue Nakprakhong/Dunwinit Kaewsai, bronze medallists in the Beach Pro Tour Songkhla Futures 2025, in quarterfinals 2-0 (21-15, 21-13).

In the semifinals, Cherif/Ahmed will next go up against China’s Wang Yanwei/Du Hongjun, who in round of 16 earlier downed compatriots Zhang Tai/Song Jinyang 2-0 (21-12, 21-15) and outperformed Thailand’s Netitorn Muneekul/Wachirawit Muadpha 2-0 (21-16, 21-16) in the quarterfinals.

The other semifinal clash on Sunday morning sees Hood/Merritt, who claimed silver medal at the recent Nuvali Open in Philippines, lock horns with teammates and second seeds Potts/Pearse, who captured the last year’s Asian Championship title.