Qatari duo start strong at Gstaad World Tour with tight win against Portugal

DOHA: Qatar’s beach volleyball stars Cherif Younness and Ahmed Tijan made a strong start to their Gstaad World Tour campaign in Switzerland, edging past Portugal’s João Pedrosa and Hugo Campos in a hard-fought three-set battle.

The Qatari pair clinched the opening set 21-18, dropped the second narrowly 23-25, but bounced back decisively to seal the match 15-11 in the third. The victory marked an important first step for Cherif and Tijan in Group C of the prestigious Elite 16 World Tour event.

They are set to face Norway’s Henrik Nicolai Mol and Matthias Berntsen in their next group match on Thursday, with Austria’s Christoph Dressler and Philipp Waller also awaiting them in the pool stage.