Qatar’s Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan in action during their Pool D clash against Italy’s Enrico Rossi and Adrian Ignacio Carambula on the opening day of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships in Hamburg, Germany, yesterday.
Doha: Qatar’s Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan began their FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships campaign on a winning note with a brilliant comeback yesterday.
In Hamburg, Germany, world’s number-six ranked beach volleyball duo, defeated Italy’s Enrico Rossi and Adrian Ignacio Carambula 2-1 (19- 21, 21 - 14, 18 - 16) in Pool D.
The second Qatari pair at the $1m Championships, Assam Ahmed Mahmoud and Tamer Abdelrasoul lost their opening Group E match yesterday at the hands of Ilya Leshukov and Konstantin Semenov of Russia.
The strong Russian duo is seeded fifth in Hamburg and ranked 26th in the FIVB computer.
Cherif and Ahmed, seeded fourth, are pooled in Group D, along with teams from Italy, Czech Republic and Belgium.
Assam and Tamer are up against their counterparts from Russia, Brazil and USA during the group stage.
Also yesterday, three players with World Championship gold medals to their credit were successful in the opening two men’s matches.
In Pool F, 2013 world champs Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen of the Netherlands scored a 2-1 opening win against Canadians Grant O’Gorman/Ben Saxton at Am Rothenbaum Stadium.
Phil Dalhausser, who captured the 2007 world title with Todd Rogers, and Nick Lucena posted the first win as the sixth-seeded Americans scored a 2-0 (21-14, 21-13) Pool F victory over 43rd-seeded Julian Azaad/Nicolas Capogrosso of Argentina in 31 minutes.
