Qatar Olympic Committee
Qatar's duo, Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan, began their quest for glory in the FIVB Beach World Championships with a narrow 2-1 victory over Italian opponents in Hamburg, Germany on Friday.
Meanwhile, Qatar's second duo Tamer Abdelrasoul and Assam Ahmed Mahmoud suffered defeat at the hands of Russian counterparts in their debut match in FIVB Beach World Championships.
It is worth mentioning that Younousse and Tijan have been the leading duo in Asia, having won the Asian Games and Asian Championship staying undefeated throughout. Besides, they have won three bronze medals in high-ranking events on the FIVB Beach World Tour. Their confidence level should be high, entering the event.
In three last events on the World Tour, Younousse and Tijan secured the third spot in the Four-Star Xiamen Open and followed it up with a 17th spot in the Four-Star Ostrava Open and were placed ninth in the Four-Star Warsaw Open. They also featured in two non-Tour events and won them to give a winning lift to their confidence and form.
There are 48 pairs in the men's and women's sections. They have been divided into 12 groups on single round-robin format. After the pool stage, top two pairs will advance directly to the knockout phase.
While four best pairs out of the 12 third best pairs will automatically be placed in the first knock-out, the remaining eight will battle it out for four slots in the Lucky Loser elimination phase. ?