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The Peninsula
Olympic bronze medallists and former world ranking leaders Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan of Qatar will be aiming for their fifth Beach Pro Tour podium when Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour's second Elite16 event begins tomorrow in Ostrava, Czechia.
The former Asian Games gold winners, Cherif and Ahmed will begin their campaign from Pool B, which also includes fourth-ranked Swedish pair David Ahman and Jonatan Hellvig as well as Dutch duo Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen, paving the way for some of the most exciting match-ups right from the start.
The Qatari duo will meet a qualifier in their opening fixture on Thursday, before taking on second-seeded Ahman and Jonatan, the 21-year-old reigning European champions on Friday. The Swedish men are targeting their seventh Beach Pro Tour podium.
In their final preliminary round match on Friday, Cherif and Ahmed will take on the world's number two team, Brouwer and Meeuwsen who have previously collected four medals on the Tour, including a bronze in Ostrava last year at the venue built next to the iconic Lower Vitkovice industrial heritage site.
Among other notable contestants at this year's event in Ostrava, are defending champions – Norwegian duo of Anders Mol and Christian Sorum, who currently hold both Olympic and world titles as well as the top spot in the world rankings.
The pair who has reached the finals at each of the previous three Elite16 tournaments this year, have racked up five gold, two silver and two bronze medals so far, and will compete in Pool A.
Meanwhile, Pool C will be headlined by Italian Olympians Adrian Carambula and Alex Ranghieri and will also include World No.6 Michal Bryl and Bartosz Losiak of Poland.
In Group D, the home team of Ondrej Perusic and David Schweiner – ranked fifth - will be up against formidable opponents, fifth-seeded Germans Clemens Wickler and Nils Ehlers as well as the Dutch pair of Stefan Boermans and Yorick de Groot, who held the world's number one ranking just a year ago.
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