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Qatar stay alive after first win

RIO DE JANEIRO: Qatar’s beach volleyball team staged a valiant fightback after losing the first set to beat Spain 13-21, 21-18, 15-12 in a Pool F encounter at the Copacana Beach Arena here on Monday.

Qatar’s duo off Jefferson Pereira and Cherif Younesse put up a terrific display to pummel their Spanish opponents Pablo Herrera Allepuz and Adrian Gavira Collado into submission in the match which last 55 minutes.

Three months ago in Sochi, Russia, Gavira and Herrera, the FIVB World Tour veterans had defeated the Qatar pair in three sets and it was payback time for Pereira and Cherif.

Making their Olympics debut, Qatar created history with their first win in the tournament which kept their hopes of advancing to the knockout stage alive.

After being dominated by the Spaniards in the first set, Pereira and Cherif recovered from a 6-10 second set deficit to tie the set at 13s, 14s, 15s, 16s and 17s.  A quick three-point run highlighted a 4-1 stretch for Qatar to end the set.  In the decider, Pereira and Cherif broke from a 5-5 tie to start controlling the final set and held a 13-9 lead en route to the victory.

Pereira and Cherif, who dropped their opening Rio match in two sets to Jake Gibb and Casey Patterson of the United States, are now tied with the Spaniards in Pool F and finish group play Wednesday against Austrians Alexander Huber and Robin Seid.

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