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Host Qatar’s three teams marched into the semi-finals of the 16th GCC Beach Volleyball Championship, yesterday. |
At the Qatar Beach Volleyball Academy courts at Al Gharafa Club, Qatar ‘D’ comprising Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan scored two victories yesterday to finish at the top of the Pool B with four wins overall.
The pair of Younousse-Tijan played superbly in both the matches. They started proceedings with a 2-1 victory over Saudi Arabia ‘A’.
Later, they went on to beat compatriot Jefferson Pereira and Mahmoud Essam of Qatar ‘A’ 2-1 (21-17 18-21 15-12) in their last league outing to finish at the top.
Pereira had paired up with Tiago Santos and they had won both the GCC title and Arab Championship title together last year. But an injury to Santos during the Qatar Open last month forced him stay out of the championship.
“It’s really good for us to top the pool after beating all the teams in our pool. Our win over Oman was fantastic. Both the matches were quite tough and we tried to give our 100 percent, which helped us reach the semi-finals of this regional championship,” Younousse said.
“We had a tough match against the Saudi team today. We could have won 2-0. We’re not much experienced compared to other teams. We’ll try to continue to play as well as we can,” he said. Bahrain ‘A’ lost to Oman ‘B’ 2-0 (24-22 22-20) to finish second in the Group B behind Qatar ‘B’.
In the first semis, Qatar ‘B’ will take on Qatar ‘A’, while Bahrain ‘A’ play against Qatar ‘D’ in the other. Qatar B’s Khallouf-Abdelrasoul, who had dropped a match to Bahrain A, clinched both the games in the Group B. Later, Bahrain’s 1-1 win-loss record enabled Khallouf and Abdelrasoul to top the pool.
“It’s really great that all the three Qatari teams are in the semi-finals. We’ll try to sweep all the three medals,” Khallouf said.
Qatar’s coach Pedro Paulo Costa was a very happy man today as he said, “Yes, I’m very happy. The entire camp is very happy. Our first target was to have all the three teams in the semi-finals. We have achieved it. The second target is now to win all the three medals.”
RESULTS
Qatar D beat Saudi Arabia A 2-1 (21-17 18-21 15-10); Saudi Arabia B beat Kuwait 2-0 (21-14 21-18); Oman A beat Saudi Arabia A 2-0 (21-10 21-11); Bahrain A beat Saudi Arabia B 2-0 (21-16 23-21); Qatar A beat Bahrain B 2-0 (21-16 21-16); Qatar B beat Oman B 2-0 (21-15 21-8); Oman A beat Bahrain B 2-0 (21-16 21-18)
Oman B beat Bahrain A 2-0 (24-22 22-20); Qatar D beat Qatar A 2-1 (21-17 18-21 15-12); Qatar B beat Kuwait 2-0 (21-12 21-7)
TODAY’S FIXTURES
9:00 – First semi-final (Qatar A vs Qatar B)
10:00 – Second semi-final (Qatar D vs Bahrain A)
3:00 – Bronze medal match
4:00 – Gold medal match