Younousse, Tijan stamp their class with Qatar’s first gold

The gold medal was just a formality as Qatar’s beach volleyball pair Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan stamped their authority in Hangzhou as they reigned supreme at the Asian Games on Thursday.

The Tokyo Olympic bronze medallists and World No 3 pair went through their campaign in Ningbo, China without dropping a single set in six matches to defend the Asian Games gold, which they had won in Jakarta in 2018.

In the gold medal match on Thursday, the Qatari standouts secured a 2-0 (22-20, 21-16) victory over China’s Ha Likejiang and Wu Jiaxin. This was Qatar’s first gold at the Hangzhou Asiad, with the skeet mixed team featuring Reem al-Sharshani and Rashid Saleh al-Athba winning bronze.

The two medals won on Thursday took Qatar tally to four. On Wednesday, Nasser al-Attiyah won bronze in the individual skeet event, while the Qatar team picked up a silver.

Younousse and Tijan were considered overwhelming favourites and they lived up to the expectations. But they were pushed to their limits by Likejiang and Wu Jiaxin in the first set, before the Qatari pair prevailed in 24 minutes. In the second set, they jumped into an early and never relinquished the grip on the match.

Moments after their triumph, Younousse and Tijan set their eyes on winning gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics. “It wasn’t an easy final. It’s an honour to win consecutive gold medals at the Asian Games. We will give our best to continue winning titles for Qatar,” Tijan said.

“The first set was not easy because China was fighting and they also were playing at home. We are going to do our best in Paris, and we are hoping for different coloured medal this time,” he added.

Tijan hoped to continue title wins for Qatar as the World No.3 pair will now prepare for next month’s World Championship in Mexico. The bronze went to Kazakhstan’s Dmitriy Yakovlev & Sergey Bogatu, who managed a tight 2-0 (25-23, 30-28) win over Iran’s Abbas Pourasgari & Alireza Aghajanighasab.

Meanwhile, al-Sharshani and al-Athba combined to land the third skeet medal for Qatar on Thursday. In the bronze medal play-off final, the pair missed just two targets each as they outplayed Bahrain’s Tammar Ali Alwatt and Maryam Alasam 44-37.

Kazakhstan’s Eduard Yechshenko and Assem Orynbay hit 40 targets to take the gold, while Kuwaiti veteran Abdullah al-Rashidi and teaming up with Eman al-Shamaa could only strike 35 to settle for the silver. The Kuwaiti pair had topped the qualifying stage with 149 hits, equalling the qualification world record of the event.

Al-Sharshani, who missed out on a women’s individual medal after finishing fifth in the final on Wednesday, was thrilled to have won the medal. “I am proud to win the first Asian Games medal for my country. This medal is a huge boost for me in the competitions ahead as I look to win more medals for Qatar,” she said.

Al-Athba, who was also a part of silver winning skeet team along with al-Attiyah and his brother Masoud, said: “We delivered a good performance and won bronze with a good lead. Reem was very impressive. We were aiming for a gold medal but winning a bronze is also special.”



3x3 basketball continue winning run
Qatar’s 3x3 basketball continued their impressive run as they overpowered Kyrgyzstan 21-5 for their third successive victory. They had earlier defeated Thailand and Kazakhstan. The Pool D toppers will next meet Cambodia today.

But there was disappointment today in basketball, as the men’s team lost 64-76 to South Korea in Group D. Earlier they had lost to Japan. In the equestrian dressage intermediate freestyle, Jassim al-Kuwari riding Handretti finished a creditable 10th with a total aggregate score of 66.915.

Today, Qatar handball team will take on Kazakhstan in their Group B match eyeing their third straight victory. The defending champions defeated Hong Kong and South Korea in their first two games. Al Annabi’s track and field stars will also start their medal hunt as athletics competition kicks off today.