Qatar lost the Olympic Men’s Beach Volleyball semifinal 2-0 to the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) at Shiokaze Park on Thursday and will now take on Latvia in the bronze medal match on Saturday.
The Qatari duo of Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan have caught the eye at Tokyo 2020 with some brilliant performances that have seen them overcome more fancied opponents, including their impressive win over the Italian team of Paolo Nicolai and Daniele Lupo 2-0 (21-17, 23-21) in the quarterfinal on Wednesday.
But on Thursday they came up against the formidable Russian duo Viacheslav Krasilnikov and Oleg Stoyanovskiy, who ran out winners in straight sets (21-19, 21-17).
Before their defeat to ROC, Younousse and Tijan had been on a five-match winning streak at Tokyo 2020.
The pair began their Olympic campaign on July 25, beating Switzerland 2-0 (21-17, 21-16) in their preliminary round, Pool C match.
They followed that up with two more group victories, beating Italy 2-0 three days later, and the USA 2-0 last Friday.
On Sunday, they beat the USA 2-1 (14-21, 21-19,15-11) in the round of 16 to reach the quarterfinal against Italy.
