Cuba’s Diaz & Alayo and Netherlands’ Boermans & De Groot complete the podium in Brazil
Cherif & Ahmed during the Rio Elite final
Qatar’s Cherif Younousse & Ahmed Tijan, seeded third in the men’s main draw, topped the podium at the Rio de Janeiro Elite on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour on Sunday. It was their third gold on the Tour this season, after the Xiamen Challenge in May and the Gstaad Elite in July. Overall, it was Cherif & Ahmed’s fifth gold and ninth medal since the Tour was launched in 2022.
· Watch Rio de Janeiro Elite replays on VBTV
The silver went to seventh-seeded Noslen Diaz & Jorge Alayo. The Cuban Olympians have now collected six medals on the Beach Pro Tour. This was their second podium in 2025, after the Quintana Roo Elite in March, where they triumphed with gold.
Second-seeded Stefan Boermans & Yorick de Groot of the Netherlands settled for bronze, their fourth consecutive Elite-level bronze, after Gstaad, Hamburg and Joao Pessoa. Overall, it was the team’s 12th podium finish on the Beach Pro Tour.
The 2025 Rio de Janeiro Elite men’s podium
Outplaying the opponents on all counts, Cherif & Ahmed were well in control of the first set of the final before Cherif closed it off at a wide margin with an elegant touch for the last point. The second set was more competitive. After 13-13, the Cubans took control and kept it up through the end of the set, which came on an Alayo hit to level the match. In the tie-breaker, the gap never exceeded two points one way or another. In the money time, the Cubans denied four Qatari match points before Ahmed put away the 2-1 (21-14, 17-21, 18-16) match winner on the fifth. Cherif topped the scorers chart of the match. His 29-point match high featured four kill blocks and an ace. Also with one ace to his name, Ahmed finished with 19 points towards the victory. With three kill blocks and 23 spike kills, Alayo was his team’s leading scorer. Diaz fired three aces towards a 17-point tally.
“For me, this place has always been a great place to remember, because this is where I played my first Olympics and it was amazing here in Copacabana. The fans make us feel at home here,” Cherif told VBTV after the final. “It was a great fight against Cuba tonight, but in the end, it was beach volleyball that won.”
“This is unbelievable! I don’t know how we did it, but we had a great performance,” Ahmed added. “Being far away from the family is not easy, but I would like to thank my family back home for being patient. I have a new-born baby waiting for me back at home and I am so happy that I can bring the gold medal to her.”
In the third place match, Boermans & De Groot came back from a set down to edge last year’s Rio bronze medalists Martins Plavins & Kristians Fokerots of Latvia and celebrate a 2-1 (17-21, 21-17, 15-11) victory. Boermans contributed four aces and four kill blocks towards a match-high 33 points. De Groot added another 11, all in swings. Fokerots led the fourth-seeded Latvian team with 27 points, including three blocks and two aces.
Earlier on Sunday, the two semifinals were played. First, Cherif & Ahmed achieved a 2-0 (21-19, 21-17) sweep of their encounter with Plavins & Fokerots, with Cherif producing two aces and two kill blocks to finish with a match-high 19 points, and Ahmed chipping in with another 15.
Then, Alayo & Diaz came back from a set down and persevered in the overtime of the tie-breaker to celebrate a 2-1 (15-21, 21-18, 19-17) upset of Boermans & De Groot. Alayo led the Cuban team with 22 points. His tally featured three kill blocks and two aces. Diaz added 12 points. Boermans was the best scorer of the match with 27 points. He impressed with six stuffs and three serving points.
VW Beach Pro Tour Rio de Janeiro Elite: all results
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