Qatar’s Younousse and Tijan finish third, Brouwer and Meeuwsen emerge as champions

Doha: Qatar’s Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan finished with a flourish to bag the third spot at the FIVB World Tour Katara Beach Volleyball Cup.

In the third place play-off at the magnificent Katara Amphitheatre on Saturday, they defeated top seeds Philip Dalhausser and Nicholas Lucena of the US 21–19, 19–21, 15-13 in a thriller.

Younousse and Tijan were obviously disappointed after their defeat to Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen of the Netherlands in the semifinals, but they pulled up their socks to register an important victory.

Meanwhile, Brouwer and Meeuwsen emerged as champions after a rallying from a set behind to beat Russians Oleg Stoyanovskiy and Igor Velichko 20-22, 21-14, 15-11.

The Katara Cup, the only 4-Star event in the Middle East, was the fifth World Tour tournament in 2018 after the Dela Beach Open in The Hague, Netherlands at the beginning of January and the events in Shepparton (Australia), Kish Island (Iran) and Fort Lauderdale (United States). It will be followed by events in Muscat (Oman) and Aalsmeer (Netherlands).

It was the fourth time Doha had hosted an FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour event.