After placing third, fifth and 17th in their previous three starts on home sand, Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan finally finished atop a podium in Doha on Friday by winning the Doha Beach Volleyball Cup at the Al Gharrafa Beach Complex.
Seeded first in the 16-team main draw, Younousse and Ahmed posted a 2-0 (21-15, 21-19) gold medal win in 34 minutes over second-seeded Yves Haussener and Quentin Metral of Switzerland in the first FIVB World Tour meeting between the two teams.
“It was good to play after one year of break,” said the 25-year old Ahmed after the match.
“Hopefully playing in this event will be an advantage for us for next month’s event. It also helps that this is our home court where we practice every day.”
Younousse praised his partner Ahmed
“Ahmed was very convincing tonight with his explosiveness in his attack along with his defense and consistent setting. That makes him a great partner,” Younousse said.
With both teams winning yesterday afternoon semi-final matches to advance to the first-ever Qatar versus Switzerland gold medal match on the FIVB World Tour.
The No. 13 team on the international ranking list, Cherif and Ahmed also secured Qatar’s second-ever FIVB on the World Tour as the pair was competing in their 29th World Tour event. Cherif and Ahmed’s best previous finishes were thirds at events in 2018 (Doha and Vienna) and 2019 (Xiamen, China).
Qatar's first gold medal win was posted on February 19, 2016 on Kish Island in Iran when Cherif and Jefferson Pereira defeated Russians Oleg Stoyanovskiy and Artem Yarzutkin 2-1 (21-13, 14-21, 15-12) in the 39-minute finale.
Haussener and Metral were also competing in their first World Tour gold medal match as the Swiss pair had posted two thirds in their previous nine FIVB starts together at events in Cambodia (2019) and Austria (2020).
In the bronze medal match, the eighth-seeded Alexey Gusev and Pavel Shustrov rebounded from a second Doha setback to Cherif and Ahmed to post a 2-1 (19-21, 21-15, 19-17) in 48 minutes over fifth-seeded Murat Giginoglu and Volkan Gogtepe of Turkey.
The 20-year-old Russians have now captured two World Tour medals in six starts together. Pavel Shustrov (right) of Russia blocks against Volkan Gogtepe of Turkey. With the Doha Beach Volleyball Cup being the first FIVB event on the 2021 schedule, the Qatari capital will also host the next World Tour event next month. The Katara Beach Volleyball Cup is set for March 8-12 for the $300,000 men's and women's event to be played at the Katara Culture Centre.
Seeded first in the 16-team main draw, Younousse and Ahmed posted a 2-0 (21-15, 21-19) gold medal win in 34 minutes over second-seeded Yves Haussener and Quentin Metral of Switzerland in the first FIVB World Tour meeting between the two teams.
“It was good to play after one year of break,” said the 25-year old Ahmed after the match.
“Hopefully playing in this event will be an advantage for us for next month’s event. It also helps that this is our home court where we practice every day.”
Younousse praised his partner Ahmed
“Ahmed was very convincing tonight with his explosiveness in his attack along with his defense and consistent setting. That makes him a great partner,” Younousse said.
With both teams winning yesterday afternoon semi-final matches to advance to the first-ever Qatar versus Switzerland gold medal match on the FIVB World Tour.
The No. 13 team on the international ranking list, Cherif and Ahmed also secured Qatar’s second-ever FIVB on the World Tour as the pair was competing in their 29th World Tour event. Cherif and Ahmed’s best previous finishes were thirds at events in 2018 (Doha and Vienna) and 2019 (Xiamen, China).
Qatar's first gold medal win was posted on February 19, 2016 on Kish Island in Iran when Cherif and Jefferson Pereira defeated Russians Oleg Stoyanovskiy and Artem Yarzutkin 2-1 (21-13, 14-21, 15-12) in the 39-minute finale.
Haussener and Metral were also competing in their first World Tour gold medal match as the Swiss pair had posted two thirds in their previous nine FIVB starts together at events in Cambodia (2019) and Austria (2020).
In the bronze medal match, the eighth-seeded Alexey Gusev and Pavel Shustrov rebounded from a second Doha setback to Cherif and Ahmed to post a 2-1 (19-21, 21-15, 19-17) in 48 minutes over fifth-seeded Murat Giginoglu and Volkan Gogtepe of Turkey.
The 20-year-old Russians have now captured two World Tour medals in six starts together. Pavel Shustrov (right) of Russia blocks against Volkan Gogtepe of Turkey. With the Doha Beach Volleyball Cup being the first FIVB event on the 2021 schedule, the Qatari capital will also host the next World Tour event next month. The Katara Beach Volleyball Cup is set for March 8-12 for the $300,000 men's and women's event to be played at the Katara Culture Centre.
