Team Qatar claim title of Asian Men’s Beach Volleyball Championship
Bandar Abbas: Second seeds and 2020 Tokyo Olympics bronze medallists Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan defeated reigning champions Christopher McHugh/Paul Burnett of Australia in the final match of the 2022 Asian Senior Men’s Beach Volleyball Championship to claim the title.
The exceptional 21-16, 21-17 win in the Friday’s showdown not only handed the in-form Qataris the Asian title for the third time in history, but was also a sweet revenge for their disappointing 16-21, 19-21 loss in the semifinal clash at the previous double-gender edition in Phuket, Thailand last year.
The victory stretched Qatar’s dominance in the annual competition to 3 times. Nonetheless, Australia stayed atop the medal standing of the Asian Senior Men’s Championship with 5 gold, while Indonesia had 4 and China collected 3. New Zealand and Iran had won 2 apiece and Kazakhstan claimed one.
Cherif and Ahmed, who captured their first two Asian titles in 2018 in Satun, Thailand and 2019 in Maoming, China, lived up to their top billing as current world No.4 to win the 2022 Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Challenge event in Maldives last month. However, the Qataris went through tough times in Bandar Abbas, facing strong Australians in three matches of the final phase in the star-studded Asian Championship.
After their unbeaten streak in the pool play, Cherif and Ahmed came back to beat Australians Izac Carracher/Mark Nicolaidis 2-1 in the action-packed round of 16 in the Thursday morning and continued their remarkable run to put it past fighting another Australian pairing, Zachery Schubert/Thomas Hodges, 2-1 in the quarterfinals later in the afternoon.
However, the semifinal and final encounters proved to be more comfortable outings for Cherif and Ahmed as the Qatari duo turned things around to power past Chinese Li Zhuoxin/Xue Tao 21-18, 21-14 in the semifinal clash and Aussies McHugh/Burnett 21-16, 21-17 in the showdown later in the afternoon.
In the third-place playoff clash earlier, Chinese Li Zhuoxin and Xue Tao stunned Iranians Mizaali/Vakili and their home supporters with the hard-fought 21 16, 26-24 win to claim bronze medal.
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