Qatar’s Cherif Samba (left) blocks a spike by a South Korean player during their second Pool B match of the preliminary round of the beach volleyball competition during the 2018 Asian Games at the JSC Beach Volley Arena in Palembang, Indonesia, yesterday.
DOHA: Qatari beach volleyball players Ahmed Janko and Cherif Samba topped their pool with a resounding win against South Korea while the men’s 3x3 basketball team also excelled by winning both their matches on the fourth day of 2018 Asian Games yesterday.
At the JSC Beach Volley Arena in Palembang, Ahmed Janko and Cherif Samba outplayed their South Korean counterparts Kim Junyoung and Kim Hongchan 2-0 (21-9, 21-15) in their second Pool B match of the preliminary round to secure the first win for Qatar yesterday.
The Qatari duo was no match for the South Koreans in the first set which lasted only twelve minutes. The South Koreans tried to fight back in the initial stage of the second set, but the Qatari prevailed on Palembang beach to secure their second win in a row.
Samba and Janko defeated Kazakhstan’s Dmitriy Yakolev and Sergey Bogatu in their first match of the preliminary round on Monday and now top the group with one match to go.
In their final Pool B tie, the Qatari men will take on Sri Lanka’s Lakmal Medagedara and Sashimal Yapa tomorrow.
Meanwhile, the second Qatari pair, Tamer Abdelrasoul and Mehdi Sammoud will be looking to topple Iranians Arash Vakili and Bahman Salemiinjehboroun in their third and final Pool F match today.
Abdelrasoul and Sammoud defeated their Maldivian counterparts 2-1 on Monday after losing to Thailand’s Surin Jongklang and Adisorn Khaolumtarn in their first outing.
The Qatari duo is currently placed at the third position in their pool.
Elsewhere, at the Gelora Bung Karno Sport Complex in Jakarta, Qatari men’s 3x3 basketball team had a successful day.
The luck was on their side as Maldives were disqualified in their first game of the day, according to information posted on the Asian Games website. However, they did not mention the reasons leading to Maldivians’ disqualification. As a result, Qatar walked away with a win without making a single basket.
A Qatari female fencer (left) in action at the Gelora Bung Karno Sport Complex yesterday.
In their second math of the day, Qatar beat Nepal 21-8 and later went on to defeat Syria with a margin of 17-7.
The three wins put Qatar second behind Japan in the Group C Standings. Al Annabi will take on Jordan and Japan in their remaining group matches on Friday.
It was a different story when it came to women’s 3x3 basketball as Qatar lost to China 23-3 in yesterday’s opening game.
This is the first time that 3x3 basketball is featuring in Asian Games and the 2018 Asiad features 36 teams from 21 different countries in the half-court version of basketball.
Meanwhile, Qatari teenager Noah Alkhulaifi finished second in the third heat of the men’s 50m freestyle, clocking a time of 24.64 secs at the GBK Aquatic Centre. In the same heat, his compatriot Yacob Alkhulaifi finished fourth with a time of 24.89 secs.
However, the two Qatari swimmers failed to advance as yesterday’s performance placed them in the 37th and 39th positions in the overall standings.
In the men’s 200m breaststroke heats, Abdelrahman Mohamed finished in 18th overall, clocking a time of 2:31.22.
Qatari archers Ibrahim Al Mohanadi, Ali Salem and Abdelaziz Al Obadi competed in their respective events at the JSC Shooting Range, but failed to impress.
Same fate followed Qatari fencers as Thkrayat Al Abdulla, Wadha Al Abdulla, Ahmed Al Quradaghi and Ali Owaida did not qualify for the next round.
