BPT Finals - Doha, QAT - 2024

Mol and Sørum get revenge for Paris and make it to Doha semis

After their victory over Ehlers and Wickler, the Vikings will meet Cherif and Ahmed; Åhman/Hellvig vs. Boermans/de Groot in the other duel

Published 09:07, 06 Dec 2024

Ehlers/Wickler (GER) vs. Mol, A./Sørum, C. (NOR) - Quarterfinals #27409457

Ehlers and Mol shake hands after the match

Tokyo Olympic champions Anders Mol and Christian Sørum had to wait almost four months, but they got revenge for their elimination in the semifinals of the Paris 2024 Games on Friday, taking down Germans Nils Ehlers and Clemens Wickler and advancing to the semifinals of the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Finals in Doha.

In the semifinals, on Saturday, at 16:00 local time (13:00 GMT), the Norwegians will meet the same team they played in the bronze medal match in the French capital, Qataris Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan. One hour earlier, Paris Olympic champions David Åhman and Jonatan Hellvig of Sweden will play Dutch Stefan Boermans and Yorick de Groot. The medal matches will also be held on Saturday.

Watch the Doha Finals on VBTV.

The defeat to Ehlers and Wickler at the Eiffel Tower Stadium four months ago that kept Mol and Sørum out of the Olympic gold medal match was the only one ever suffered by the Beach Volley Vikings to their opponents. On Friday, in the quarterfinals of the Beach Pro Tour Finals, Mol and Sørum topped the Germans for the sixth time in the last two years, triumphing 2-0 (21-19, 21-17). Earlier, in pool play, they defeated the English Bello twins Javier and Joaquin also 2-0 (21-17, 21-17).

Home favorites Cherif and Ahmed got to skip the quarterfinals in Doha after they finished first in Pool A on Thursday. Norwegians and Qataris have met 15 times since 2018 and the Beach Volley Vikings won the last 13 duels, having last dropped a match to the Asians over six years ago, in Doha. Only four of those 15 encounters didn’t need a tie-breaker to be decided.

VW Beach Pro Tour Finals in Doha: schedule and results

The second-best team in Pool A, Boermans and de Groot had a strong day to advance to the semifinals in Doha. They completed their pool play schedule with a 2-0 (21-12, 21-10) sweep against Czech world champions Ondrej Perusic and David Schweiner and had another dominant performance in the quarterfinals, beating Brazilians Evandro Gonçalves and Arthur Lanci also 2-0 (21-13, 26-24).

The winners of Pool B, Åhman and Hellvig didn’t have to get on the court on Friday in Qatar. In the semifinals, the Swedish jumpsetters will try to secure their fourth victory in five matches against the Dutch. The only time Boermans and de Groot won, however, was in Doha, earlier this year, during the Elite16 event held in the city.