Qatar’s Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan booked their place in the quarter-finals of the beach volleyball event of the Paris Olympic Games on Monday.
At the Eiffel Tower Stadium, 13th-seeded pair and 2020 Tokyo Games bronze medallists breezed past 23rd-seeded Marco Grimalt and Esteban Grimalt of Chile 2-0 (21-14, 21-13) to register their fourth consecutive win in Paris. Younousse and Tijan stayed well in control throughout the match and prevailed in all elements of the game. Younousse starred on the block and raised as many as seven stuffs, including the one that brought in the match winner, and finished with a 15-point match high. Tijan led the Qatari attack and fired one ace to tally a total of 14 points. Tomorrow, Younousse and Tijan will take on Miles Partain and Andrew Benesh of the United States in a quarter-final battle for passage to the last four.
Partain and Benesh beat Italy’s Samuele Cottafava and Paolo Nicolai in straight sets, 21-17, 21-18. The US pair found success with the jump set technique, reading the Italian defence to perfection and converting for easy scores. Benesh was a force at the net, winning multiple meetings in the air with Tokyo silver medallist Nicolai. A 3-0 run gave the Americans a 12-7 lead in the first and they went on to take the set by a comfortable margin.