Younousse, Tijan enter final; shooters raise medal hopes

Qatar’s beach volleyball stars Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan will be gunning for their second consecutive Asian Games gold tomorrow, as they take on home favourites Abuduhalikejiang Mutailipu and Wu Jiaxin in the final in Hangzhou.
At the Ningbo Banbianshan Beach Volleyball Centre in Ningbo, China, on Tuesday, Younousse and Tijan brushed off the challenge from Kazakhstan’s Sergey Bogatu and Dmitriy Yakovlev 21-9, 21-19 in the semi-finals in 34 minutes.
The World No 3 and Tokyo Olympic bronze medallists had little trouble in the first set, but were given a stern test in the second by the Kazakh pair. “Our defence was working well today. We are more balanced in attacking and defence. But we need to do better in the next game.” said Tijan after the match. Younousse and Tijan will start as favourites against Chinese pair Mutailipu and Jiaxin, who beat Iran’s Abbas Pourasgari and Alireza Aghajanighasab 26-24, 21-16 in the second semi-final.
Qatar volleyball team suffered a heartbreak though as they lost the bronze medal playoff to Japan at the Linping Sports Center Gymnasium on Tuesday. The second string Japan side proved too good for Qatar as they won 3-1 (37-35, 25-22, 23-25, 25-23). Iran, who had defeated Qatar in the semis, beat China 3-1 (19-25, 25-14, 25-22, 26-24) to defend their title. It’s the third consecutive gold for Iran in the event at the Asiad.
Meanwhile, Qatar will be hoping for their first medal of the Hangzhou Asiad on Wednesday from the skeet shooters. After day one of the qualification, Qatar team led by Nasser al-Attiyah and al-Athba brothers – Masoud and Rashid – were second with a combined score of 218, two behind leaders China. The trio will take part in stage 2, which will begin at 4am Qatar time on Wednesday.
The 2021 London Olympics bronze medallist al-Attiyah was also third in the skeet individual event. While the top six shooters will make the final, the 52-year-old has shot 74 targets, only trailing behind leader Yunxuan Wu of China and second-placed Yuan Meng Lee of Chinese Taipei on count back. Masoud and Rashid al-Athba were ninth and 11 respectively. The individual stage 2 will be conducted concurrently with the team event tomorrow.
The women’s skeet team placed fifth after stage one of the competition. Reem al-Sharshani, Hajar Mohamed and Sarah Mohamed had a combined score of 197 and will need a perfect second stage to secure a medal.
Al-Sharshani was Qatar’s best placed shooter at eighth place, with Sarah in 13th spot and Hajar 20th. In the 25m pistol event, Nasra Mohamud was languishing at 38th place after the precision stage, with the rapid stage to be held on Wednesday. There was disappointment in the 10m Air Rifle Mixed event as Ali al-Muhannadi and Matara al-Aseiri finished 20th among 21st competitors.
Qatar 3x3 basketball team began their campaign on high note beating Thailand 16-12 on Tuesday. Qatar will play Kazakstan tomorrow and Cambodia on Friday in other group stage matches. Meanwhile, the basketball team slumped to a 63-95 defeat at the hands of Japan. They will face South Korea and Indonesia next.
Meanwhile, none of the Qatari swimmers made it to the finals on Tuesday. Hamza Shaalan in the 400m medley race timed 4:57.99 secs, while Abdullah al-Khalidi stopped the clock at 17:21.61 secs in the 1,500m freestyle. The sailors too finished out of medal brackets. Faris al-Bakri finished in 11th place, while Ahmed al-Mulla was tenth. The squash team led by Abdulla al-Tamimi lost both their group stage matches to India and Pakistan 3-0 and 3-1, respectively.
On Wednesday, Qatar’s U-23 football team will face off against China in the last 16 match at 2:30pm Qatar time. The Al Annabi were poor in the group stages, losing to Japan and were held by Palestine, but have managed to squeeze through to the knockout stage.
The handball team will also be in action on Wednesday as they face South Korea. The defending champions had won their opening fixture against Hong Kong 36-18 on Monday.