(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Fawad Hussain |
The Peninsula
Doha, Qatar: Qatar's top beach volleyball pair of Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan remained on course for their second consecutive Gold medal at the Asian Games after recording an emphatic victory over Iran in the quarter-finals at Ningbo Banbianshan Beach Volleyball Centre in Ningbo, China yesterday.
While Bahman Salemi and Sina Shoukati displayed a spirited show in the quarter-final, Younousse and Tijan looked far better than their Iranian counterparts scoring a 21-17 and 21-19 victory for a place in today's semi-finals.
The Qatar pair – ranked third in the world – will now meet Kazakhstan's Sergey Bogatu and Dmitriy Yakovlev eyeing a place in Thursday's gold medal match.
“We are very confident of reaching the final. Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan have been in good form in the competition,” said Muhammad Salem Al Kuwari, who is heading beach volleyball team at the Games.
“The match against Iran was challenging but our pair did well to register an impressive win,” he said.
The other semi-final of the event will be played between Chinese and Iranian sides.
Meanwhile, Qatar's volleyball team will look for a bronze medal after they went out of the title race following a 0-3 defeat to Iran in the semi-final at Linping Sports Centre yesterday.
The Al Annabi spikers fought hard in the match but Iran were a better side winning the match with a 20-25, 20-25, 22-25 score-line in one hour and 17 minutes.
Qatar will face Japan – defeated by China 3-0 in the other semi-final – in the third position play-off today.
Nasser Al Attiyah is targeting his first individual skeet gold in Asian Games.
Al Attiyah aims for gold
Qatar's multi talented sports star Nasser Al Attiyah is aiming for medals at the Hangzhou Asian Games as Al Annabi marksmen are set to begin their campaign today.
Al Attiyah, an Olympic bronze medalist, is targeting his first individual skeet gold medal besides his third team skeet title for Qatar in Hangzhou.
“The competition will be strong in presence of prominent shooters from Kuwait, China and Chinese Taipei,” said the five-time Dakar Rally champion, who will team up with Rashid Al Athba and Masoud Al Athba.
“The weather seems to fluctuate between humidity and rain, but that will not affect the focus of our team members,” the 52-year-old added. Apart from winning an individual bronze at 2010 Guangzhou, Al Attiyah was also part of the team that won gold medal in team skeet at the same Games besides Qatar's triumph at Busan 2002.
Yesterday in shooting, Qatar's Mohammed Haq qualified for the 10m running target range final but settled for a 15th place in the decisive round.
Meanwhile, Qatar will begin their quest for medal in squash team event with their opening Pool A match against Pakistan today. The singles event is scheduled to kick off on October 1.
“It's always been my dream to stand on the podium at the Asian Games. I've worked hard over the past few years, and I hope everyone to make Qatar proud,” said Qatar's top ranked Abdulla Al Tamimi.
Also today, Qatar's basketball team will play their opening Group D game against Japan. Al Annabi will also meet South Korea and Indonesia in the group stage. The 3x3 basketball team will also begin its campaign today by facing Thailand, with matches against Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan up next in the group.
Qatar face China in Round of 16
Tomorrow, Qatar will meet hosts China in the last-16 stage of men's football competition after clearing the group stage.
Al Annabi finished third in the group after losing to Japan and played a draw against Palestine. The team continued their preparation for the match yesterday hoping to excel in the knockout stage.
Meanwhile, Team Qatar athletes continued their action in other disciplines with Ahmed Al Mulla and Fars Al Bakri representing the country in sailing.
In chess, Qatar's Husain Nezad (men's event) besides Aisha Al Khelaifi and Ghada Al Khulaifi (women's event) showed impressive performances yesterday.
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