Rio de Janeiro, August 10, 2016 – Qatar’s Jefferson Pereira and Cherif Younousse booked their place in the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games beach volleyball tournament round of 16 when they defeated Austria’s Alexander Huber and Robin Seidl 2-1 (18-21, 21-19, 15-12) at the Copacabana Beach Volleyball Arena on Wednesday.
Jefferson Pereira, Qatar
“To me, we are trying to make history in Qatar, so let's go for it. There's only one tournament, so we have to focus on the next round.
“The supporters are helping us, we felt this energy and we started to play for them.”
Alexander Huber, Austria
“There were a couple of long rallies, and most of them they (Qatar) made the point and that was the most determining thing.
“I think it's clear we are third in the pool, so we play on and that was our big goal. Another match in this great centre court, in this great stadium. Now we'll see what challenge we have up next and then we will focus on that.
“It's crazy because they were a top team (USA’s Jacob Gibb and Casey Patterson). I think they easily could have gotten a medal, and now they have to go home. It's tough for them, I feel sorry for them, but it's really great we came out of this tough pool.”
Robin Seidl, Austria
“I'm disappointed. We had it in our hands, and we didn't make it, but it was still great to play here in front of the crowd.”