Qatar’s Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan stormed into the semi-finals of the beach volleyball competition at the Paris Olympic Games on Wednesday.
The 13th seeds did not leave many chances to ninth-seeded Miles Partain and Andrew Benesh with a convincing 2-0 (21-14, 21-16) win over the Americans in the quarter-finals at the Eiffel Tower Stadium. The Tokyo Games bronze medallists are undefeated after five matches played in Paris.
The Qatari duo will take on world number one, Swedish duo David Ahman and Jonatan Hellvig, in the semi-final today at 11pm. Younousse and Tijan had defeated Ahman and Hellvig in the group stage and will be hoping for a repeat in the semis.
The playful Qatari pair had clearly set out to enjoy themselves with a cheeky style earning the support of a thunderous crowd as they spun the ball on their fingers, clapping and dancing with the crowd between serves. After their victory against Partain and Benesh, they earned a standing ovation and leading the crowd in a dance after reaching victory.
In the first set, Partain and Benesh stayed competitive through 12-11 in their favour, when the Qatari pair went on a seven-point run, which pre-decided the outcome. In the second, Younousse and Tijan broke away after 5-5 and never looked back, staying well in control through the end, which came on a Younousse’s ace for 21-16.
Younousse’s tally also included five kill blocks and 13 kills in attack towards a 19-point match high. Tijan added 11 points, also including on ace. Benesh, on the other side, also put up five kill blocks to lead his team with a total of 15 points.
Meanwhile, Norway’s Anders Mol and Christian Sorum will meet Germany’s Nils Ehlers & Clemens Wickler in the other semi-final today. Second-seeded Mol & Sorum improved to a 5-0 win-loss record in the tournament, after playing a solid match against 18th-seeded Pablo Herrera & Adrian Gavira and eliminating the Spanish team in a 2-0 (21-16, 21-17) straight-setter.
The end of the match was truly emotional for the thousands of fans at the Eiffel Tower Stadium as they all paid due respect with standing ovations for Athens 2004 Olympic silver medallist Herrera, for whom this was the last Olympic match in his record-breaking six participation.
In both sets of the match, the reigning Olympic champions managed to run off with an early lead and then just kept pace to keep the Spaniards at bay and close the sets victoriously, the first one with a kill block by Mol, the second with a successful spike by Sorum. Herrera finished as the best scorer of his last Olympic match with 20 points, including one block. Sorum led the Norwegian team with 19 points, all in attack. Mol added another 16 towards the victory, including five blocks and an ace.