GCC Volleyball Committee Head Yousef al-Sabah Nasser al-Sabah and QVA president Khalid Ali al-Mawlawi give the winners’ cheque to Qatar A team of Jefferson Pereira and Mahmoud Essam. PICTURE: Jayaram
By Sports Reporter/Doha
Qatar A team of Jefferson Pereira and Mahmoud Essam won the 16th GCC Beach Volleyball Championship yesterday.
At the Qatar Beach Volleyball Academy court in Al Gharafa Sports Club, the hosts defeated Bahrain A’s Hassan Aqeel and Ali Marhoun 2-1 (21-18 11-21 15-11) in the final.
Qatar B team of Abdelaziz Khallouf and Tamer Abdelrasoul won bronze defeating Qatar D team of Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan 21-12 18-21 15-4.
“This was a difficult final as I was playing with a new partner. I’m very happy to finish the season with the gold medal. We will now take some rest before the new season which starts in February,” Pereira said.
“I had to change the partner as Tiago (Santos) was injured. But building a new team is not an easy job. It takes a long time to get the rhythm going. Our main target is to qualify for the Rio Olympics and we are all working towards that goal.
Last year in Salalah, Oman, Qatar had won the same medals, though the A team had a different combination –Santos teaming up with Pereira. But the former got injured last month during the Qatar Open, a world beach volleyball tour event, and Pereira had to change the partner.
Essam was also delighted with their victory. “It was a tough competition for me. During the pool stage, it was different. Then from the knockout stage onward, it was much tougher.
“I’m very happy with Qatar’s show in the championship. We had three teams in the event and were planning to win all the three medals through them. But that did not happen somehow. So it was a similar finish to what we had last year.
“I have played both the forms of volleyball (beach and regular) and both are different. The beach volleyball is quite demanding. I had suffered a knee injury during practice but I kept pushing myself. Finally, we qualified for the final and won it,” said Essam.
Bahrain coach Ali Jaffer said: “The final was fantastic. Unfortunately, there has to be just one winner and today, it was to be Qatar A. In my opinion, we played well against the more experienced Qatar team.”
Qatar D team’s Younousse regretted about losing the chance to reach the final.
“We’d a good chance to beat Bahrain A and make it to the final. But we’re happy to finish fourth in our first tournament. We will work harder and try to do better next time.”
Tamer Abdelrasoul, who had won bronze last year with Khallouf, said, “We were third last year also. We got the bronze medal again. It is difficult to play any semi-final match when you have your friends against you. Overall, it’s good for Qatar that all the three teams were in top four.
“The competition level is improving here. More strong teams are coming up in domestic events and it’ll lift the standard in Qatar. Both Cherif and Ahmed are very talented youngsters and I feel they could become champions in the future,” said Abdelrasoul.
The winners received $2,000, while the runners-up got $1,000 and Qatar B, who claimed the bronze medal got $600. GCC Volleyball Committee Head Yousef al-Sabah Nasser al-Sabah and QVA President Khalid Ali al-Mawlawi gave away the prizes.
GCC Beach Volleyball Committee technical head Abdulaziz al-Karnaz and QVA secretary-general Mohamad Ali al-Mohannadi were also present during the prize distribution function.
RESULTS
Final: Qatar A (Jefferson Pereira-Mahmoud Essam) beat Bahrain A (Hassan Aqeel-Ali Marhoun) 2-1 (21-18 11-21 15-11)
Third place: Qatar B (Abdelaziz Khallouf -Tamer Abdelrasoul) beat Qatar D (Cherif Younousse- Ahmed Tijan) 2-1 (21-12 18-21 15-4)
Semifinals: Qatar A (Jefferson Pereira-Mahmoud Essam) beat Qatar B (Abdelaziz Khallouf- Tamer Abdelrasoul) 2-0 (21-9 21-15); Bahrain A (Hassan Aqeel-Ali Marhoun) beat Qatar D (Cherif Younousse-Ahmed Tijan) 2-1 (18-21 21-19 16-14)
