Qatar’s Jefferson Santos Pereira and Cherif Younousse bounced back from the first set loss to upset FIVB World Tour veterans Adrian Gavira and Pablo Herrera of Spain in a Pool F beach volleyball match during the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at the Copacabana Beach Arena.
The Asian Continental Cup qualifiers are in a group that also includes pairs from Austria and the United States. Jefferson and Cherif scored a 2-1 (13-21, 21-18, 15-12) win in 55 minutes over the Spaniards in the second international match between the two teams.
Three months ago, Gavira and Herrera had defeated the Qatar pair in three sets in in Sochi, Russia. After being dominated by the Spaniards in the first set, Jefferson and Cherif recovered from a 10-6 second set deficit to tie the set 17-all A quick three-point run highlighted a 4-1 stretch for Qatar to end the set. In the decider, Jefferson and Cherif broke from a 5-5 tie to start controlling the final set and held a 13-9 lead en route to their victory.
Jefferson and Cherif, who dropped their opening Rio match on Saturday in two sets to Jake Gibb and Casey Patterson of the United States, are now tied with the Spaniards in Pool F. They finish their group engagements tomorrow against Austrians Alexander Huber and Robin Seidl. Gavira and Herrera, who defeated Huber and Seidl in three sets on Saturday, will play the Americans tomorrow. The Qatari duo had made the Rio cut after winning the Asian Volleyball Confederation’s Continental Cup in Sydney.
Meanwhile, Dmitri Barsouk and Nikita Liamin of Russia beat Piotr Kantor and Bartosz Losiak Poland 2-0 (21-14, 21-17) in a Pool B match.
Qatar’s table tennis and
judo challenge ends
Meanwhile, Qatar’s challenge in table tennis and judo came to an end yesterday. In table tennis, Li Ping lost his third round match to Germany’s Dimitrij Ovtcharov.
In a closely-fought contest, Ovtcharov won 4-3 (8-11, 11-4, 11-9, 7-11, 11-5, 9-11, 11-9). Ping fought hard against the London Olympics bronze medallist and Europe champions, but came up short. Ping had on Sunday defeated Hungary’s Adam Pattantyus 4-0.
In Judo, Qatar’s Morad Zemori lost to Belgium’s Dirk Van Tichlet in the men’s 73 Kg competition. Zemori’s is the first from Qatar to take part in judo at Olympics.
Qatar to face France in
handball today
Qatar’s handball team will take on world champions France today in their second group game. The World Championship runner-up had won their first match against Croatia 30-23 on Sunday in the opening game. France had edged past Tunisia 25-23 in the first fixture.
Qatar are drawn in Group A alongside France, Tunisia, Denmark, Croatia and Argentine, with four teams making it to the quarter-finals. The match is scheduled at 3:30pm Qatar time.
Head coach Valero Rivera Lopez said the game against France will be difficult from their win over Croatia, reminding that France are world champions and reigning Olympic champions.
“We are prepared well for the game and we all know that it will be difficult but I can only say that we will play with strength and high spirits,” Lopez said, adding that the coaching staff has reviewed the French team and the players know a lot about their opponents.
Qatar’s Jefferson Santos Pereira dives to play a shot during the beach volleyball match against Spain at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro yesterday.
