Doha, Qatar, May 3, 2025 – Qatar’s top seeds Cherif Younousse/Ahmed Tijan eased into the final of the AVC Men’s Beach Tour Doha Open after blowing away two Thai pairs in the quarterfinal and semifinal matchups at the Al Gharafa Beach Complex here on Friday.
Former three-time Asian champions Cherif/Ahmed, already had successful two outings in April. They first snatched gold medal for Qatar at the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) Beach Games Muscat 2025 in Oman on April 10 and six days after that handed Qatar’s historic gold medal in the AVC Beach Tour 24th Samila Open in Songkhla, Thailand, arguably the longest-running beach volleyball competition in Asia after being organised continually for more than 20 years.
On Friday, the brilliant duo lived up to their top billing and remained the bright hopes of the host nation in the four-day, men’s only event, eliminating Thailand’s sixth seeds Dunwinit Kaewsai/Banlue Nakprakhong 2-0 (21-8, 21-17) in 31 minutes in the quarterfinals.
Cherif/Ahmed went on their prominent performance in the semifinals on the same day to overpower another Thai duo, Netitorn Muneekul/Wachirawit Muadpha, fourth seeds and last year’s silver medallists at the FIVB Beach Volleyball U19 World Championship in Phuket, Thailand, 2-0 (21-10, 21-14) in 28 minutes.
In the Saturday’s final showdown, Cherif/Ahmed, who have yet lost a single set to their respective opponents in the ongoing Doha Open, will challenge Paul Burnett/Luke Ryan, the Australian team they had already beaten in thrilling two-setter in the quarterfinals of the 24th Samila Open.
As the Qataris stormed into the final with ease, the third seeds and 2nd Nuvali Open champions Burnett/Ryan struggled in two consecutive matches on Friday.
In the quarterfinals, the Aussies faced a stiff challenge from 10th seeds Takumi Takahashi/Jumpei Ikeda to pull off comeback 2-1 (17-21, 21-17, 15-12) win over the Japanese duo in exhausting 51 minutes.
The same situation repeated in the semifinals when Burnett/Ryan fought hard, recovering from the first set loss 18-21 to Ben Hood/Oliver Merritt, silver medallists at the 2nd Nuvali Open in Philippines, to take the next two sets 21-15, 21-10 in the thrilling all-Australian affair.
With Cherif/Ahmed setting up the highly-anticipated final clash with Burnett/Ryan, Netitorn/Wachirawit and Hood/Merritt will battle it out in the Saturday’s third-place playoff to fight for consolation bronze medal.
In the quarterfinal matchups earlier, Hood/Merritt struggled hard to beat Iran’s Alireza Aghajanighasab/Abbas Pourasgari, who picked up bronze medal at the 24th Samila Open, in closely-contested 2-1 (27-29, 21-28, 15-13), while Netitorn/Wachirawit overcame a difficult situation to narrowly beat Japan’s Nassim Malki/Kosuke Fukushima 2-1 (21-18, 18-21, 15-6).
The Saturday’s third-place playoff match is scheduled to take place at 5pm local time, followed by the final showdown at 6.30pm, the awards presentation and closing ceremony.
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