Beach volleyball duo Mahmoud Essam and Abdullah Nassim got Qatar’s Hangzhou Asian Games campaign rolling on Tuesday with a 2-0 victory over South Korea on Tuesday.
Beach volleyball, Football and Volleyball events kicked off on Tuesday in Hangzhou, but the Games officially open on Saturday, with the opening ceremony also scheduled on that day.
On Tuesday, Essam and Naseem were clinical as they eased past their South Korea opponents in their opening group fixtures. The duo are slated to face teams from Iran and Macau next.
Meanwhile, Qatar’s top beach volleyball pair Ahmed Tijan and Cherif Younousse will begin their defence of the gold medal today, as they take on the Indonesia pair. Tijan and Younousse are third in the world rankings with 6,580 points, and will fancy their chances of retaining the gold they won in 2018 in Jakarta.
The football team will also be in action today as they face formidable Japan in their opening Group D match at the Xiaoshan Sports Center Stadium. Asian Games men’s football squads are made up of under-23 players but teams are allowed three older players. The Qatar’s U-23 squad is coming off a successful run in the AFC U-23 Asian Cup 2024 Qualifiers in South Korea, where they won all three matches in the qualifying group.
Coach Ildio Vale will hope his team can maintain their recent form against Japan, who are one of the fancied teams to win gold. Qatar also take on Palestine in the group stage, where the teams are divided into six groups. The top two teams from each group and the four best third-placed teams across all groups will progress to the round of 16.
Meanwhile, the Qatar volleyball team will face Thailand today. On the other hand, the sailing team began its preparations after the delegation arrived in China on Monday, as it aims to give the best possible performance despite the strong competition. The Qatari sailing team consists of Faris al-Bakri and Ahmed al-Mulla, who will be in action today.
Qatar has sent 182 athletes, who will take part in 27 sports. At the Jakarta-Palembang 2018 Asian Games, Qatar won 13 medals: 6 gold, 4 silver and 3 bronze.
North Korea win on
international return
Meanwhile, North Korea returned to major international competition for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic with a 2-0 win over Taiwan in men’s football at the Asian Games on Tuesday.
North Korea closed its already tight borders in early 2020 following the Covid outbreak and skipped the Tokyo Olympics, which were pushed back to 2021 because of the pandemic.
The country was then banned from the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics for failing to take part in Tokyo. But North Koreans are competing at the Asian Games in the Chinese city of Hangzhou in sports including athletics, gymnastics, basketball, football, boxing and weightlifting.
North Korea is competing at its first multisport event since the Asian Games in Jakarta in 2018. Rivals South Korea began their quest for a third men’s Asian Games gold in a row with a 9-0 demolition of Kuwait. There was home delight as China began their Games football campaign with a 5-1 thumping of India.