Qualifiers Krattiger & Dillier take silver, Rotar & Gauthier-Rat claim bronze
Qatar’s Cherif Younousse & Ahmed Tijan topped the podium at their very first appearance on the 2025 Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour. On Sunday, they triumphed as winners of the Xiamen Challenge, after dropping only a set in six matches played in China. For the two-time Olympians and Tokyo 2020 bronze medalists, it was the first Beach Pro Tour gold since 2022, when they collected their first two. Their overall collection from the Tour now features three gold, three silver and two bronze medals.
- Watch the Xiamen Challenge on VBTV
Emerging from Wednesday’s qualifications, Switzerland’s Marco Krattiger & Leo Dillier, seeded 24th in the 32-team main draw bracket, made it all the way to the final and took home silver, the recently formed pairing’s second consecutive Beach Pro Tour medal, after their Valencia Futures from two weeks ago.
20th-seeded Teo Rotar & Arnaud Gauthier-Rat of France earned the Xiamen Challenge bronze, their first Beach Pro Tour medal as a team. With previous partners, Paris 2024 Olympian Gauthier-Rat had already collected five podiums, including a 2024 Xiamen Challenge silver. Rotar had three Beach Pro Tour medals, in addition to three Youth World Championship podiums, including the U19 title in 2021.
Top-seeded Cherif & Ahmed showed no mercy in Sunday’s final, which they won in a 2-0 (21-14, 21-14) landslide. Cherif spearheaded the Qatari duo in attack with 14 points, including the match winner, and added four kill blocks to his tally to top the match chart with a total of 18 points. Ahmed added nine, including one ace. Krattiger (three kill blocks) and Dillier (one ace) put away 11 points each.
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“It’s been a long week! This was our first stop and it was the best way to start our season in the elite level,” Cherif said immediately after the victory in the final. “The job is not finished. We have just started and it’s time to go home, rest and prepare Ostrava.”
“It’s a great feeling to get our first gold medal on the 2025 Beach Pro Tour. It’s a good start for us and we are looking forward to achieving more,” Ahmed added.
Rotar & Gauthier-Rat hammered out a 2-0 (21-11, 21-12) sweep of the third-place match against 29th-seeded Norwegian qualifiers Markus Mol & Adrian Mol, capitalizing mainly on their solid blocking effort and the opponents’ abundant unforced errors. Rotar put away all of the French team’s eight kill blocks in the match to finish with a match-high 18 points. Gauthier-Rat added nine, including an ace. Markus Mol was the Norwegian side’s top scorer with 12 points to his name, including two aces and two blocks.
Earlier on Sunday, in the semifinals, Cherif & Ahmed managed a hard-fought 2-1 (21-16, 17-21, 15-11) victory over Mol & Mol. Ahmed contributed three aces, while Cherif raised four kill blocks. On the Norwegians’ side, Markus Mol impressed with six blocking and two serving points.
In the second semifinal, Krattiger & Dillier produced a 2-0 (21-16, 21-18) shutout of Rotar & Gauthier-Rat with a solid seven kill blocks from Krattiger.
VW Beach Pro Tour Xiamen Challenge: all results
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