Qatar's Cherif Younousse shoots to score against Italy's Carambula and Rossi during the men's beach volleyball Pool C match played at Shiokaze Park in Tokyo, Japan, yesterday.
Tokyo: Qatar’s beach volleyball duo of Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan celebrated their World No.1 ranking by defeating Italy’s Adrian Carambula and Enrico Rossi 24-22, 21-13 to record second straight win in Group C at the Shiokaze Park in Tokyo, yesterday.
With the victory, Qatar’s Cherif and Tijan secured their spots in the knockout stage of the men’s Olympic beach volleyball tournament.
The new men’s FIVB World Ranking leaders, Cherif and Ahmed began their Olympic campaign with a 21-17, 21-16 victory over Adrian Heidrich and Mirco Gerson of Switzerland on Sunday.
To finish on top of the pool, the Qatari pair will have to overcome Jacob Gibb and Tri Bourne of USA tomorrow.
“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 the end, until we were able to take over. The second set was normal and the victory came to us,” said Ahmed.
“Now we will focus on finishing top of the pool and then the real fight starts,” said Cherif.
Earlier yesterday, the Americans claimed a hard-fought 2-0 (21-19, 23-21) victory over Switzerland’s Adrian Heidrich and Mirco Gerson. The Swiss and the Italians will have to fight it out for the third place in the pool.
Al Rumaihi begins campaign
For his part, Qatar’s Mohamed Al Rumaihi finished the first day of the men’s trap shooting qualifying rounds in the 16th place with 72 points.
The top six qualify for the final with the field being led by Kuwait’s Abdulrahman Al Faihan with 74 points. The last two qualifying rounds will be held today.
Fares aims high
Meanwhile, star weightlifter Fares Ibrahim continued his preparations for his men’s 96kg event to be held on July 31.
Qatar’s Fares Ibrahim Hassouna earned his ticket to Tokyo 2020 Olympics when he bagged two gold medals at 2019 Qatar International Cup Weightlifting Championships.
Fares also participated in Rio 2016 Olympics but his first international appearance with Team Qatar was in 2014 edition of Qatar International Cup Weightlifting Championships.
Meanwhile, rower Tala Abujbara will be back in action tomorrow, competing in the women’s single sculls Final E.
