Newly crowned World No 1 Qatar’s Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan secured their spot in the knockout stages of the men’s Olympic beach volleyball by registering a second successive win on Wednesday.
The Qatar team lived up to their top billing to score an emphatic 2-0 (24-22, 21-13) win over Italy’s Adrian Carambula and Enrico Rossi in the Pool C match at the Shiokaze Park on Wednesday.
Younousse and Tijan began their Tokyo campaign on high note on Sunday with a 21-17, 21-16 victory over Adrian Heidrich and Mirco Gerson of Switzerland. The new FIVB Ranking leaders were trailing Carambula and Rossi for the better part of the first set. However, with the help of some acrobatic returns Qatar team managed to save four set points and won the set in overtime. With the momentum on their side, the Qatari pair was in full control in the second. They dominated from the start to win the set comfortably. “The match was great! It was a little bit tough in the first set and we almost lost it. But we kept on fighting, until we were able to take over. The second set was normal and we won it comfortably,” Tijan said. “Now we will focus on finishing at the top of the pool and then the real fight starts,” said Younousse. To finish on top of the pool, the World No 1 Qatari pair face of USA’s Jake Gibb and Tri Bourne tomorrow
Earlier in the day, the Americans claimed a hard-fought 2-0 (21-19, 23-21) victory over Switzerland’s Adrian Heidrich and Mirco Gerson.
Meanwhile, Qatar’s Mohamed al-Rumaihi finished the first day of the men’s trap shooting qualifying rounds in the 16th place with a score of 72. The top six qualify for the final. The last two qualifying rounds and the final will be held today.      
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