Lausanne, Switzerland, October 23, 2019 – After hosting a 4×4 beach volleyball event this past week at the ANOC World Beach Games, Qatar continues its role staging international tournaments with Doha set to host two stops on the 2019-2020 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour calendar.
For the sixth and seventh time since November 2014, Qatar will stage FIVB World Tour men’s-only events in Doha with both tournaments counting towards Olympic qualifying for the Tokyo 2020 Summer Games.
The first Qatar event will be the Aspire Beach Volleyball Cup set for November 12-15 at the Al Gharrafa beach complex with $5,000 in prize money, which is the fourth stop on the 2019-2020 calendar after tournaments in Bandar Torkaman, Iran (October 1-4), Qinzhou, China (October 30 – November 3), and Tel Aviv, Israel (November 6-9). The second tournament features $150,000 in prize money and will be staged from March 9 to 13, 2020 at the Katara Cultural Village where the 4×4 World Beach Games finales were played.
Qatar’s Cherif Younousse Samba and Ahmed Tijan will be the top-seeded team in November’s Aspire Beach Volleyball Cup as the host country pair is currently ranked 13th on the FIVB World Tour and ninth on the provisional Olympic ranking lists.
Third-place finishers in the 2018 Doha Open after defeating American Olympians Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena in the bronze medal match, Samba and Tijan will be challenged by Sweden’s David Ahman/Jonatan Hellvig. After winning the 2018 Buenos Aires Youth Olympic Games gold medal, the Swedish teenagers placed fifth at a 2019 FIVB World Tour event on home sand in Göteborg.
Teams from Europe have dominated the Doha events by winning nine of the previous 15 podium positions awarded, highlighted by four gold medals wins by pairs from Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. Chile’s Esteban cousins (Esteban and Marco) snapped the European string of title victories by defeating Americans Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena in the March 2019 finale.
Dutchmen Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen, the bronze medal finishers at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and the 2013 FIVB world champions, claimed the 2018 Doha title. Germans Tim Holler/Jonas Schroder (2014) and Markus Bockermann/Lars Fluggen (2015) captured the first two Qatar gold medals.
Italians Adrian Carambula/Alex Ranghieri continued the European success story in Doha by defeating Austrians Alexander Huber/Robin Seidl for the 2016 Doha title.
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