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The great form of Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour continues as the Qatari Olympic medallists claimed the title of the Elite event held in Newport Beach. The hottest men’s team in international beach volleyball right now, they made it to the top of the podium in California on Saturday, flanked by two South American duos, as Brazilians Evandro Gonçalves and Arthur Lanci finished second and the Chilean Grimalt cousins Marco and Esteban ranked third in the tenth Elite event of the 2025 season. The 2025 season has been a different one for Cherif and Ahmed, who typically compete in almost every Elite event there is, but this year were limited to only six appearances on the Beach Pro Tour because of injuries. The bronze medallists of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, have, however, made the most of every opportunity they had to compete in 2025, winning four golds, with victories in the Elite events held in Gstaad, Rio de Janeiro and Newport Beach and the Xiamen Challenge. Disregarding the three forfeit defeats they were forced to accept at the Montréal Elite after Cherif got injured, the two have won 17 of their last 19 matches, including the last 11. “Winning here feels amazing,” Ahmed commented. “My wife is from the United States, and I am very happy to be here and win the gold medal. It means so much to our entire family.” At Newport Beach, Cherif and Ahmed made it to the top of the podium with an undefeated campaign of six victories and only one set dropped. In the final, they overcame Evandro and Arthur in straight sets (21-16, 30-28). “It was a really tough tournament, and the final was no different,” Cherif reacted. “We faced so many tough teams here, and we wanted to congratulate Evandro and Arthur, who had a really good run. We love to entertain people and give the fans a great final, and I think that today we did it. I hope everyone enjoyed it.”

The Qatar national beach volleyball team captured the Newport Beach Elite16 title in California, USA, after defeating Brazil in the final of the Beach Pro Tour's prestigious Elite16 series. Qatar's duo Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan prevailed over the Brazilian pair Evandro Oliveira and Arthur Lanci in straight sets (21-16, 30-28) following a thrilling contest that showcased outstanding performances from both sides. The victory marks another milestone for the Qatari team, coming just two weeks after their gold-medal triumph at the Rio de Janeiro Elite16 in Brazil, where they overcame Cuba 2-1 in the final — further underscoring their impressive consistency and dominance on the international stage this season. Throughout the Newport Beach tournament, Younousse and Tijan delivered composed and commanding performances, topping their group with three consecutive wins against teams from the United States and Norway to advance directly to the quarterfinals. In the last eight, the Qatari duo edged past Latvia's Martins Plavins and Kristians Fokerots (2-1), before cruising to the final with a straight-sets victory (2-0) over American brothers Trevor Crabb and Taylor Crabb in the semifinals. In the third-place match, Chilean brothers Marco Grimalt and Esteban Grimalt defeated the Crabb duo (2-0) to claim bronze, while Brazil's Evandro and Lanci earned silver.This latest achievement reaffirms Qatar's position among the elite in global beach volleyball and highlights the professionalism, resilience, and determination of Younousse and Tijan — the bronze medalists at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

Qatar’s beach volleyball duo, Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan, clinched their third Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour gold of the year at the Rio de Janeiro Elite on Sunday.The third-seeded pair defeated Cuba’s Noslen Diaz and Jorge Alayo 2-1 (21-14, 17-21, 18-16) in a thrilling final.Younousse and Tijan had earlier won the Xiamen Challenge in May and the Gstaad Elite in July. Overall, it was Cherif and Ahmed’s fifth gold and ninth medal since the Tour was launched in 2022. The bronze medal went to the Dutch team, Stefan Boermans and Yorick de Groot.