Doha: Julio Cesar Do Nascimento Jr and Ahmed Tijan squeezed through for the next phase of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Qatar Open on the strength of the sole win in pool play on Tuesday night.
The Qatari pair lost two of the three matches but managed to book a place in the knockout stage of the championship on the back of the sole win in Pool C on Tuesday night over Chaim Schalk and Ben Saxton of Canada.
However the second Qatari pair were not so lucky.
The home hopefuls Jefferson Santos and Cherif Younousse, winners of the opening FIVB World Tour tournament of the year on Kish Island, bowed out, coming out worst on a three-way tie to finish bottom of their pool.
Meanwhile, top seeds Jacob Gibb and Casey Patterson of USA scraped through to the single elimination bracket and second-seeded Clemens Doppler and Alexander Horst of Austria topped their pool undefeated.
But third-seeded Schalk and Saxton of Canada crashed out of the tournament after suffering three straight defeats.
Doppler and Horst topped their pool with three wins from three to make sure they are as prepared as they can be in their pursuit of a place at Rio Games. The Austrian pair are looking in the type of form that could allow them to challenge for a place on the podium, the day-night tournament in Doha is also allowing them the chance to prepare for the conditions in Rio.
“We are really happy because we came here to prepare for the Olympics,” Doppler said.
“Here (Qatar) there are night session games under the lights and deep sand and that is important because you don’t have so many occasions in the season when you have night session games.
“For us it is a very important tournament especially as it our 12th tournament so we have fulfilled the criteria for the qualification process.” Doppler and Horst played at the London 2012 Olympic Games after they qualified through the FIVB Continental Cup.
They also played at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, Doppler alongside Peter Gartmayer and Horst with Florian Gosch.
The single-elimination rounds continue while the quarter-finals will be played in the evening session.
The semi-finals and medal matches and awarding ceremony will conclude the event on Friday evening.The Peninsula
