The Qataris went undefeated in pool play and are ready for more battles in the elimination rounds
Cherif and Ahmed won their three pool matches in Montréal
With a pair of strong wins on Friday, Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan advanced to the elimination rounds of the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Elite16 event held in Montréal, Canada, as one of just three teams to go undefeated in pool play.
The Qatari Olympic medalists navigated a difficult Pool B at the Notre Dame Island and are now guaranteed in the quarterfinals of the event.
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Cherif and Ahmed, who had topped Brazilians Pedro Solberg and Gustavo ‘Guto’ Carvalhaes in their debut on Thursday, kept the good form on Friday and secured two more victories to finish in first place in their pool.
The Asians started the day with a solid two-set (21-15, 21-16) win over Germans Nils Ehlers and Clemens Wickler and got another victory in the evening, downing the home team of Sam Schachter and Dan Dearing in the tie-breaker (21-17, 24-26, 15-7) in a rainy center court match.
“We had two very tough matches today against the Germans and the Canadians,” Cherif reacted. “We had a chance to win the second match in two sets, but they were pushed by the crowd and were playing some really good blocking and defense. We were patient and ready to get the job done in the tie-breaker. Tomorrow we’ll be ready for the biggest battles. We had some injury issues at the start of the season and I’m happy that now we’re getting back to our level.”
The Germans, who topped Pedro and Guto in two sets (21-16, 21-16) in the afternoon, advanced in second place while the Brazilians were third and also moved forward after their straight-set (25-23, 21-19) victory against Schachter and Dearing.
Benesh goes up at the net during the match against the Australians
It was also a busy day in Pool B, where four matches were played at the Notre Dame Island. At the top of the pool at the end of the pool play stage are Americans Andy Benesh and Miles Partain, who went undefeated after they topped Dutch Olympic medalists Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen in two sets (21-19, 21-19) and overcame Australians Izac Carracher and Mark Nicolaidis in the tie-breaker (21-23, 21-17, 18-16).
Brouwer and Meeuwsen finished second in the pool after they secured a two-set (25-23, 21-15) victory over compatriots Matthew Immers and Yorick de Groot, who triumphed against the Australians in the tie-breaker (21-19, 14-21, 15-13) and also advanced in third place.
Pool A also completed its match schedule on Friday and had Anders Mol and Christian Sørum in first place. The Norwegian Olympic champions secured their victory in Montréal with a sweep (21-8, 21-16) against Americans Miles Evans and Chase Budinger, who advanced in second place. The third and final spot in the elimination rounds went to French Youssef Krou and Arnaud Gauthier-Rat, who defeated the Chilean cousins Marco and Esteban Grimalt in two sets (21-19, 21-19) to get their first win in the tournament.
Sørum passes in the Norwegians’ third pool play match in Canada
Pool C had a tie at the top of the standings between Italy’s Adrian Carambula/Alex Ranghieri and Brazil’s Vitor Felipe/Renato Lima, but the Europeans advanced in first place despite their three-set (21-19, 17-21, 12-15) loss to Brazilians Evandro Gonçalves and Arthur Lanci, who finished third. Vitor and Renato defeated Andre Loyola and George Wanderley 2-0 (21-18, 29-27) and eliminated their compatriots from the tournament.
Set to be played on Saturday in Montréal, the elimination rounds will feature the Round of 12 and the quarterfinals. The semifinals and medal matches will be held on Sunday, the last day of competition at the Notre Dame Island.
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