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Tribune News Network
DOHA
Qatar’s star players Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan produced spectacular show and qualified for the second knockout stage in the double gender 2019 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Four-Star Xiamen Open, winning both Pool G matches on Thursday.
They first clashed with Turkish qualifiers Murat Giginoglu and Volkan Gogtepe and faced some spirited resistance in the opening set before posting a straight-set 23-21, 21-15 win in 41 minutes.
Then the Qatari pair continued their winning form defeating Brazilians Alison Cerutti, a star player with two World Championship gold medals and the 2016 Rio Olympics gold medal under his belt, and ?lvaro Morais Filho, 2-0 (21-15, 21-14).
With these two wins, Younousse and Tijan, who have won two bronze medals on the World Tour, moved into the second Winner’s bracket and will be waiting for their opponents after the first eliminator.
World third-ranked Latvians Aleksandrs Samoilovs and Janis Smedins are back in business, topping their pool with two wins. Returning to Xiamen for a fifth edition, winning bronze in 2015, they had been waiting to shake the poor result from Doha in March where the team ended in pool play. The Latvians first defeated Germans Max Betzien and Jonathan Erdmann, 2-0 (21-10, 21-12), before facing Sam Pedlow and Sam Schachter from Canada.
The two teams could be seen altering their game in an attempt to outmanoeuvre the other and despite Samoilovs/Smedins taking the first set, Pedlow/Schachter pushed the second all the way to 27-25 and into the tie-break. The seasoned Latvian pair were determined for the pool win and ended the match, 2-1 (21-17, 25-27, 15-9).
Samoilovs/Smedins had 4-Star form in 2018, winning the Espinho 4-Star and Moscow 4-Star and taking bronze at the Warsaw 4-Star. They also took bronze at the Fort Lauderdale 5-Star, but the poor result in Doha made the team reflect.
As expected with such a strong field in Xiamen, there were some big clashes among the pool matches. Spain’s Pablo Herrera and Adrian Gavira defeated Marco and Esteban Grimalt in the tie-break 2-1 (21-18, 17-21, 15-12).
In the longest match of the day, Enrico Rossi and Adrian Ignacio Carambula Raurich’s fierce battle against Brazilians Andre Loyola Stein and George Souto Maior Wanderley lasted 57 minutes, with the Italians emerging victorious, 2-1 ( 21-19, 20-22, 19-17).
China’s Gao Peng and Li Yang gave Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen a tough time in their second pool match. The Chinese team defeated USA’s Stafford Slick and William Allen in the morning before pushing the Dutch men all the way in the tie-break. The final win for Brouwer/Meeuwsen, 2-1 (21-14, 16-21, 19-17), places them at the top of their pool.
DOHA
Qatar’s star players Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan produced spectacular show and qualified for the second knockout stage in the double gender 2019 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Four-Star Xiamen Open, winning both Pool G matches on Thursday.
They first clashed with Turkish qualifiers Murat Giginoglu and Volkan Gogtepe and faced some spirited resistance in the opening set before posting a straight-set 23-21, 21-15 win in 41 minutes.
Then the Qatari pair continued their winning form defeating Brazilians Alison Cerutti, a star player with two World Championship gold medals and the 2016 Rio Olympics gold medal under his belt, and ?lvaro Morais Filho, 2-0 (21-15, 21-14).
With these two wins, Younousse and Tijan, who have won two bronze medals on the World Tour, moved into the second Winner’s bracket and will be waiting for their opponents after the first eliminator.
World third-ranked Latvians Aleksandrs Samoilovs and Janis Smedins are back in business, topping their pool with two wins. Returning to Xiamen for a fifth edition, winning bronze in 2015, they had been waiting to shake the poor result from Doha in March where the team ended in pool play. The Latvians first defeated Germans Max Betzien and Jonathan Erdmann, 2-0 (21-10, 21-12), before facing Sam Pedlow and Sam Schachter from Canada.
The two teams could be seen altering their game in an attempt to outmanoeuvre the other and despite Samoilovs/Smedins taking the first set, Pedlow/Schachter pushed the second all the way to 27-25 and into the tie-break. The seasoned Latvian pair were determined for the pool win and ended the match, 2-1 (21-17, 25-27, 15-9).
Samoilovs/Smedins had 4-Star form in 2018, winning the Espinho 4-Star and Moscow 4-Star and taking bronze at the Warsaw 4-Star. They also took bronze at the Fort Lauderdale 5-Star, but the poor result in Doha made the team reflect.
As expected with such a strong field in Xiamen, there were some big clashes among the pool matches. Spain’s Pablo Herrera and Adrian Gavira defeated Marco and Esteban Grimalt in the tie-break 2-1 (21-18, 17-21, 15-12).
In the longest match of the day, Enrico Rossi and Adrian Ignacio Carambula Raurich’s fierce battle against Brazilians Andre Loyola Stein and George Souto Maior Wanderley lasted 57 minutes, with the Italians emerging victorious, 2-1 ( 21-19, 20-22, 19-17).
China’s Gao Peng and Li Yang gave Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen a tough time in their second pool match. The Chinese team defeated USA’s Stafford Slick and William Allen in the morning before pushing the Dutch men all the way in the tie-break. The final win for Brouwer/Meeuwsen, 2-1 (21-14, 16-21, 19-17), places them at the top of their pool.
