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Tribune News Network
DOHA
Qatar's beach volleyball gold medal hopes Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan took another step forward qualifying for the Asian Games semi-fnals with a 2-1 triumph over Iranian team of Arash Vakili and Bahman Salemiinjehboroun in Jakarta on Saturday.
Younousse and Tijan, the only Asians to have reached the semi-finals and bagged the bronze medal in the prestigious FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Major event in Vienna earlier this month, won the quarter-final match 16-21, 21-18, 15-11 in 58 minutes.
Salemiinjehboroun, the winner of the 2017 Asian championship in Songhkla (Thailand) with Rahman Raoufi, combined well with Vakili and clinched the opening set in 20 minutes.
The Qataris responded to the challenge brilliantly and clinched the next two sets to set up the semi-final showdown with China's Peng Gao and Yang Li, to be held on Sunday, for their second meeting this year.
Gao and Li beat other Iranian pair of Raoufi and Abdolhamed Mirzaali 2-0.
In the 4-Star Xiamen Open earlier this year, Younouse and Tijan posted a 2-1 victory over Gao and Li in the pool games before going to finish 17th.
Younousse commenting after the team's fifth successive win in the event, said,"We're pleased with the way we've been playing. We're also proud to have made the semi-finals. We've strong teams in the semi-finals and we wish play good.
"We have no specific medal as our aim. We know our potential and we also know that if we play our level, the medals are surely coming. So our prime goal is to compete in each match strongly and at the same level as we did in Vienna (bronze medal), Doha (bronze medal in 4-Star) and The Hague (fifth place in Major)."
He said the pressure is definitely on the team but the team knows how to handle it."We're No. 1 team in Asia and everybody wants to beat us. But we have got a good coach and good staff and they're helping us a lot.
"We know how to handle these situations and we'll continue to follow the path we've been treading till now," Younousse added.
Indonesia are guaranteed a medal as two of their pairs are clashing in the other semi-final.
Ade Candra Rachmawan and Mohammed Ashfiya beat Chinese Jiaxin Wu and Mutalipu Aboduhalikejiang 2-1, while Gilang Ramadhan and Yudistira Danangsyah tamed Oman's Nouh Rashid al Jalubi and Mazin al Hashmi 2-0.
