Qatar’s Ahmed Tijan and Cherif Younousse continue their quest for another medal at the Olympics after steamrolling Australia’s Mark Nicolaidis and Izac Carracher 21-14, 21-18 at the Paris Games on Thursday.
The defending bronze medallists thus wrapped up their group stage with a perfect record topping the final standings in Pool A and sending the Aussies home without a win. It was straight business for the Qatari duo, who dominated the first set and held the Australians at bay. The Australians attempted to mount a comeback in the second set, staying within two points for the majority, but ultimately had no answer for Qatar red-hot pair. The match was sealed in 40 minutes with a final attacking point by Younousse.
Tijan and Younousse converted 30 out of 42 attacks while registering nine digs compared to Australia’s two. Younousse was the best scorer of the match with 23 points, including four kill blocks. In the round of 16, the Qatari pair will play one of the lucky losers on August 5.
As the last leg of matches in Pools A and D took place on Thursday, fans at the Eiffel Tower Stadium enjoyed two high-calibre direct clashes for the second place in each of the pools, guaranteeing direct advancement to the last 16. Italy’s Samuele Cottafava and Paolo Nicolai and USA’s Miles Partain and Andrew Benesh hammered out huge wins over favourites David Ahman and Jonatan Hellvig of Sweden and George Wanderley and Andre Stein of Brazil, respectively, to qualify to the last 16 and leave their mighty opponents in third place, pondering whether they might have to go through the “lucky-loser” round.
