Tribune News Network
Hangzhou/Doha
Qatar’s ace beach volleyball pair of Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan moved into the final of the event at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou on Tuesday, raising hopes of Qatar’s first gold medal.
The World No. 3ranked Younousse and Tijan beat Kazakstan’s Dmitry Yakovlev and Sergey Bogatu in straight sets 21-9, 21-19 in the semi-final in 34 minutes at the Ningbo Banbianshan Beach Volleyball Centre.
The World No. 3 and Tokyo Olympic bronze medallists had little trouble in the first set, but were given a stern test in the second by the Kazakh pair. "Our defense was working well today. We are more balanced in attacking and defense. But we need to do better in the next game,” said Tijan after the match.
On Thursday, Younousse and Tijan will start as favourites against Chinese pair of Mutailipu Abuduhalikejiang and Jiaxin Wu, who beat Iran’s Abbas Pourasgari and Alireza Aghajanighasab 26-24, 21-16 in the second semi-final.
Qatar’s beach volleyball team manager Muhammad Anbar expressed delight at Younousse and Tijan qualifying for the final. He however stressed that the match wasn’t as easy, especially in the second half, pointing out that the experience of Qatar pair helped them overcome the opponents.
He said: "Now we have one step ahead of us in the final against the Chinese and we are confident that with persistence and with determination of the supporters we shall fetch the gold medal. We are happy with this achievement and we hope to win the final against China, even though it is a difficult one, and get the gold medal.”
Meanwhile, the Qatar men’s volleyball team suffered a heartbreak as they lost the bronze medal playoff to Japan at the Linping Sports Center Gymnasium on Tuesday. The second string Japan side proved too good for Qatar as they won 3-1 (37-35, 25-22, 23-25, 25-23).
Iran, who had defeated Qatar in the semis, beat China 3-1 (19-25, 25-14, 25-22, 26-24) to defend their title. It’s the third consecutive gold for Iran in the event at the Asiad.
The Qatar men’s volleyball team will now leave for Brazil to participate in the qualifiers for the 2024 Paris Olympics. They will meet Brazil on September 30th in the opening match of the first group.
Attiyah, skeet team make impressive start
In shooting, Qatar’s twice Asian Games gold medalist and 2021 London Olympics bronze medallist Nasser Al Attiyah made an impressive start in the men’s individual skeet competition finishing third in phase 1 with a tally of 74 (25-25-24) on countback.
The close competiton saw China’s Yunxuan Wu finish on top with a total of 74 (25-24-25) while Taipei’s Yuan Meng Lee 74 (25-25-24) was second.
Stage 2 of the men’s individual skeet competition will continue on Wednesday.
In the men’s team skeet competition, Qatar’s Nasser Al Attiyah, Rashid Saleh Al Athba and Masoud Saleh Al Athba finished second in the first stage behind China.
Attiyah shot the three rounds 25-25-24, Rashid 25-23-24 and Masoud 24-24-24.
The women’s skeet team was placed fifth after stage one of the competition. Reem Al Sharshani, Hajar Mohamed and Sarah Mohamed had a combined score of 197 and will need a perfect second stage to secure a medal.
Al Sharshani was Qatar’s best placed shooter at eighth place, with Sarah in 13th spot and Hajar 20th.
In the 10-meter rifle mixed competition Qatar’s Matara Al Aseiri scored 304.3, Ali Al Muhannadi achieved 308.6 for a total of 612.0.
In the 10-meter moving targets, Qatar’s Mohamed Sobhi shot 361 while Muhammad Boutaima achieved 360.
In the 25-meter fixed pistol competition, shooter Nasra Mahmoud scored 277 points and will be added to Wednesday’s competition when the 25-meter moving pistol competition will also be completed.
Qatar’s winning start
in 3x3 basketball
Ahmad Mohamad, Saad Omar, Hamad Mousa and Mohammed Abbasher scored a thrilling 16-12 win over Thailand in their first pool D men’s match at the Deqing Geographic Information Park basktball court on Tuesday.
Abbasher scored 7 points while Mousa, Saad and Ahmad scored 4, 3 and 2 points respectively.
Qatar will play Kazakstan on Wednesday and Cambodia on Friday in other group stage matches. Meanwhile, the basketball team slumped to a 63-95 defeat at the hands of Japan. Qatar hoopsters won the fourth quarter 22-21 but lost the first three 13-33, 21-23 and 7-18.
They will face South Korea and Indonesia next.
Swimming
None of the Qatari swimmers made it to the finals of the swimming events on Tuesday. Hamza Shaalan in the 400-meter medley race timed 4:57.99 secs, while Abdullah Al Khalidi stopped the clock at 17:21.61 secs in the 1500 freestyle.
Sailing
The sailors too finished out of medal brackets. Faris Al Bakri finished in 11th place, while Ahmed Al Mulla was tenth.
Squash
Qatar’s squash team led by Abdulla Al Tamimi lost both their group stage matches to India and Pakistan 3-0 and 3-1 respectively.
U-23 football
On Wednesday, Qatar’s U-23 football team will face off against China in the last 16 match at 12:30am Qatar time. The Al Annabi were poor in the group stages, losing to Japan and were held by Palestine, but have managed to squeeze through to the knockout stage.
The handball team will also be in action today as they face South Korea. The defending champions had won their opening fixture against Hong Kong 36-18 on Monday.
Fencing
On Wednesday, Qatar’s fencing team trio of trio Abdullah Khalifa, Khaled Hussein and Ali Awaida will face Macau. The Qatar fencers are looking forward to putting up a good show in which they can defend their chances of advancing to the next stage.
Table tennis
Qatar’s table tennis players will be in action in the men’s singles and doubles on Wednesday.