Qatar’s Ahmed Tijan (left) and Cherif Younousse celebrate after defeating Italy's Paolo Nicolai and Samuele Cottafava. AFP
Doha, Qatar: Qatar’s high-flying beach volleyball duo, Cherif Younesse and Ahmed Tijan will take on Australian Olympic debutantes Izac Carracher and Mark Nicolaidis in their third and final Pool A match at the Eiffel Tower beach courts in Paris, today.
Brimming with confidence after a thrilling win over the Swedish World No.1 pair of David Ahman and Jonatan Hellvig, Younesse and Tijan have already booked their place in the round of 16 at the 2024 Games this time. However, the Tokyo Olympics bronze winners will be looking to finish the pool stage on top of their group, with a win over the Australian pair when the two teams face off at 11:00 am Qatar time.
Before their memorable 2-1 (15-21, 21-19, 20-18) victory over the top-seeded Swedish pair, Younesse and Tijan had overcome World No.13 Italians Paolo Nicolai and Samuele Cottafava in straight sets (21-19, 21-18) in their opening match on Sunday.
After two rounds, Younesse and Tijan are the only unbeaten duo in their group, comfortably making it to the next stage, while Ahman and Hellvig are in the second spot. Nicolai and Cottafava are third, while the Aussies are currently fourth after losing both previous matches.
The top two from each pool advance to the Round of 16, along with four lucky losers.
Despite their strong show against the hot favourites Ahman and Hellvig and advancing to the top 16, on Monday, both Younesse and Tijan claimed the job is not finished yet (in the preliminary round).
“The job is not finished. We have another game, and this is just one of the battles. The battle isn’t finished yet. Now it’s time to rest and get back to work the day after tomorrow to finish the pool strong and get ready for the big fight,” Younousse said after the memorable match which glued the spectators to the edge of their seats on Monday.
Ahmed echoed his partner’s sentiments, hinting they would not take anything lightly against the debutants.
“Against Australia, We’re going to bring the same strategy, same tactics, of course. We will not underestimate any team. They are a good team. Any team that made it to Paris is good, so we are going to give our best against every single team,” Ahmed said.
Qatari beach volleyball teams have now cleared the preliminary stages in the back-to-back Olympics since the 2016 Rio Games, with Tijan being part of the team on all three occasions. Tijan, partnered with Jefferson Pereira, was eliminated in the Round of 16 in Rio.
Four years later, in Tokyo, he teamed up with Younouesse to create history by winning Qatar’s first Olympic medal in beach volleyball.
In Paris this time, they will be keen to upgrade their medal and will be looking to rewrite history books.
The Round of 16 will begin on August 4, followed by the quarter-finals two days later, and the semi-finals on August 8. The gold medal match is set to take place on August 10.
