In great form since their return to the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour after a somewhat prolonged injury absence, Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan completed their pool play campaign at the Newport Beach Elite in impeccable fashion on Thursday.

The Qatari Olympic medalists got their third-straight sweep in California and advanced directly to the tournament’s quarterfinals, alongside the other three pool winners – Sweden’s Jacob Hölting Nilsson/Elmer Andersson, Brazil’s Evandro Gonçalves/Arthur Lanci and Germany’s Nils Ehlers/Clemens Wickler.

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Before heading to Newport Beach, Cherif and Ahmed played in only five Beach Pro Tour events in 2025, and won three of them – the Xiamen Challenge and the Elite tournaments held in Gstaad and Rio de Janeiro.

After securing two-set victories over teams from the United States and Australia on Wednesday, the Asians returned to the sand for their last Pool A match on Thursday and kept the strong rhythm, taking down Norwegians Hendrik Mol and Mathias Berntsen in straight sets (21-19, 23-21).

With three victories in as many matches, Cherif and Ahmed finished first in the pool and moved directly to the quarterfinals on Friday. Americans Miles Evans and Chase Budinger, who were second, and Mol and Berntsen, who finished third, also qualified, but will start the next day of matches in California in the Round of 12.

Pool B had Hölting Nilsson and Andersson as the top team, also with a perfect campaign. The young Swedish secured their third sweep in the tournament by taking Australian Olympians Izac Carracher and Mark Nicolaidis down 2-0 (24-22, 21-18) and also booked their tickets to the quarterfinals.

Pool C had two rounds held on Thursday and saw Evandro and Arthur come out on top after topping Americans Trevor Crabb and Taylor Crabb in straight sets (21-18, 21-17) and Latvians Martins Plavins and Kristians Fokerots also 2-0 (21-17, 26-24).

In Pool D, Olympic medalists Ehlers and Wickler were the ones to claim the direct ticket to the quarterfinals. To do that, they swept (21-17, 21-13) the Chilean Grimalt cousins Marco and Esteban and overcame American Olympians Any Benesh and Miles Partain in the tie-breaker (19-21, 21-8, 15-4).

Friday’s schedule in California will start with the Round of 12 duels, which will have Plavins/Fokerots against Benesh/Partain, Nicolaidis and Carracher playing the Crabb brothers, Americans Chaim Schalk and James Shaw going against Mol and Berntsen and Evans and Budinger meeting the Grimalts.

Beach Pro Tour Newport Beach Elite - Match Schedule & Results

The quarterfinals will also be held on Friday. The semifinals and medal matches will end the tournament on Saturday.

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