It was a better-sweet day for Qatar fans on the penultimate day of the ANOC World Beach Games in Doha yesterday.
The hosts first overcame the challenge of Poland 2-0 (24-2, 21-15) to enter final of the men’s 4x4 beach volleyball event, but later in the evening they went down fighting to five-time world champions Brazil 1-2 (15-14, 14-10, 4-7) in the beach handball semi-final.
In volleyball, Poland started off well and took three-point leads at 17-14 and 18-15 in the first set and looked firmly in control. Once again, however, Qatar’s Cherif Younousse came to his team’s rescue. He used his vast experience and scored three points on the trot to tie the score.
Seifeddine Elmajid maintained the pressure on the opponents as he made it 19-18 with a superb smash. Poland attacker Jakub Kurowski served well to save the first set point. The visitors saved two more points, but Mikolaj Miszczuk couldn’t control Younousse’s powerful smash as Qatar won the crucial set.
“I am more proud and happy than relaxed after reaching the final. The pressure to play at home and being so close to the final is always on the hosts. It is not easy to play freely when the score is tight,” Qatar coach Mariano Baracetti said.
“As a result, we had a tough start in the first set. But during the time-out, I told the players to stay calm and that helped them in the end. We hope to play well against the US, who have switched some players. Their performance has improved and I feel it is going to be an exciting final in Katara,” he said.
Younousse, who scored 17 points with 14 off the attack, was happy to help his team into the final.
“Poland are a tough side. Though as a beach volleyball team we don’t have much experience, we were able to combine the resources well. As a result, Poland were under pressure and cracked eventually.
We’re so happy for Qatar and fans. I want to thank my teammates for their superb display. Their support, particularly in the first set, was superb and helped us win the difficult first set. Now we’re in the final and will go all out against the US,” Younousse said.
Today at 7.30pm in the volleyball final at Katara, Qatar will take on the US, who defeated Indonesia 2-0 (21-15, 21-12) in the second semi-final.
The five-time beach handball Asian Champions Qatar will meet Sweden at 5pm in the bronze medal match at the same venue.
Despite some powerful spiking from attacker Rendy Licardo, Indonesia couldn’t match the USA, who started with two defeats, but have improved as the competition progressed.
“All six of us didn’t play volleyball for six weeks leading up to this, and have never played together. We made it out of pool play and every conversation after that was like ‘guys, this is just practice.’
“We have had time to become a team, because we didn’t know who we were or what we were yet. Right now everyone’s kind of finding their role and identity and we’re also getting more comfortable with the depth of this sand, and the guys as a group are feeling more confident and more comfortable in their skin,” said USA’s Casey Patterson.
Talking about their plan against Qatar, who defeated them in pool game, he said: “We played them in the pool, and it went to three (sets). It was close. We’re going to the game plan a little bit differently, a different line-up. We have more strategies and more options now, we can switch it up based on the team in front of us.”
In the women’s section, the North American derby between USA and Canada quickly started going the American way. Led by crisp attacking from Emily Hartong, the USA seized all the momentum, worked their height advantage and edged just too many plays. Canada briefly got their nose in front in the second set, but it wasn’t long before the Americans were through 21-11, 21-16. They will face a Brazilian team, who outclassed Australia in two sets 21-10, 21-11.
Action from the handball semi-final between Qatar and Brazil yesterday. Qatar lost the match and will now play Sweden for the bronze today.
