Qatar beat Indonesia in beach volleyball
Doha, Qatar: Hosts Qatar got off the mark with a 2-1 win over Indonesia in Beach Volleyball 4×4 tournament at the ANOC World Beach Games.
The first two sets were scrappy, but the visitors took their foot off the gas in the third and Qatar, featuring Olympian Cherif Younousse, pulled away to win 16-21, 21-14, 15-7.
"It’s a big step forward. It is not an easy pool, we have the USA, Indonesia and Germany," said Younousse. The next match [against the USA] is one of the most important to win. We’ve finished the first game and the confidence is going to come. Now we are relaxed. Now we are ready for the USA.”
The tournament features an eclectic mix of pro players and top-level amateurs from around the world, and for many players, it was their first exposure to the four-player format. With six players per team, 4X4 is played very much like Olympic beach volleyball, but pulls in some skills seen in the indoor game as well as the 2×2 format.
There was a huge upset on the first day as the USA men’s team, comprising pros, including beach volleyball veteran and Olympian Casey Patterson, lost 2-1 to a team of unknown German teenagers playing in their first international match. After trading the first two sets, the Germans edged out the USA 15-13 in the decider.
Dan John (GER) was clear about what made the difference. “We wanted it more, I think. Our fire inside.”
“I think the USA kind of underestimated us. At the second set they got better, and we made two mistakes. By the third set we just thought ‘come on, come on’ and fought for every point.”
The USA’s Patterson, afterwards, gave credit to the German hunger to win. “I think that was a very efficient match by them and they had zero pressure to win that match, and I think that was their advantage. “But Patterson was pugnacious about the rest of the competition. “Now we will show the world where we belong, because that’s probably the only loss we’re gonna have. I can guarantee that.”
In the last two men’s matches of the evening, Australia handily beat Chile 2-0 and Poland pushed out minnows Mozambique 2-0 in a tighter affair.
The morning saw all eight women’s teams in action in their first pool match. The biggest upset of the morning was Vanuatu, the tiny Pacific island nation who received a wildcard entry to the ANOC World Beach Games, taking down Canada in their first game: 2-0, (21-19, 21-19). Sherysyn Toko, who scored 10 points, said afterwards: “A lot of people don't know about Vanuatu. We're very happy and we're glad we won our first game. We know that Canada are strong."
A lacklustre Canada produced five service faults and 16 errors in the match on Field 1 at the Al-Gharafa Sports Club. The game marked an international beach volleyball player debut for Vanuatu team member Majabelle Lawac.
Australia went to the top of Group B with a 2-0 win (21-11, 21-7) over a tenacious Gambian team, who pushed them hard in the first set but didn’t have much left in the second. Australia delivered six aces in the match, including three from Johannah Rohkamper.
Group A saw the USA – added to the card after hosts Qatar did not field a women’s team – edge out Czech Republic 2-0 (21-18, 21-15) in a trickier match on Field 1. The Czech team fought back hard in the first set to almost level it up, but the USA were clinical over the last few points and got the job done. The Americans then led from the front in the second set and closed it out.
Earlier, top seeds Brazil took the first match of the Games with a routine win over an outclassed Nigeria, 21-10, 21-7. This meant that they became the historic first ever winners of an official 4×4 FIVB sanctioned international beach volleyball match, and they did so in some style. The Brazilian women’s team are hot favourites to win gold here in Doha, and on this morning’s evidence they were living up to their billing.
