Cherif and Ahmed inch closer to Paris Olympics qualification
Brasilia: Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan’s push to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympics received a significant boost on Friday, when the Qataris topped their pool in the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Brasilia Elite16 and advanced to the quarter-finals of the tournament.
The Tokyo Olympic bronze medallists, who are playing just their second tournament in the year, are currently just the second team sitting above the qualification line with 7,200 points, but are now set to add at least another 760 with their quarter-final appearance in Brazil – they could even find their way into the FIVB Olympic rankings top ten in they continue winning over the weekend.
After starting their Pool A campaign with a two-set win over Chileans Noe Aravena and Vicente Droguett on Thursday, Cherif and Ahmed returned to the sand at the Parque da Cidade on Friday to get another two victories.
They first upset top-seeded Dutch Stefan Boermans and Yorick de Groot in the tie-breaker (21-17, 21-23, 15-13) and then completed their perfect pool play campaign with a 2-0 (21-19, 21-14) victory over Americans Chase Budinger and Miles Evans.
The three other teams to top their pools in Brasília, Germany’s Nils Ehlers/Clemens Wickler, the Netherlands’ Steven van de Velde/Matthew Immers and Brazil’s Evandro Gonçalves/Arthur Lanci, are also guaranteed in the quarter-finals of the tournament.
Their opponents will come from the Round of 12 duels, which will have Chile’s Marco Grimalt/Esteban Grimalt vs. Brazil’s Andre Loyola/George Wanderley, USA’s Andy Benesh/Miles Partain vs. Boermans/De Groot, Poland’s Michal Bryl/Bartosz Łosiak vs. Budinger/Evans and the Netherlands’ Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen vs. England’s Javier Bello/Joaquin Bello.
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