Qatar’s Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan and USA’s Jake Gibb and Tri Bourne secured their spots in the knockout stages of the men’s Olympic beach volleyball tournament by putting their hands on the top two places in their pool standings on Wednesday. So did Switzerland’s Tanja Huberli and Nina Betschart, Germany’s Laura Ludwig and Margareta Kozuch, ROC’s Nadezda Makroguzova and Svetlana Kholomina and Australia’s Mariafe Artacho and Taliqua Clancy in the women’s competition.
Huberli and Betschart topped the final standings in Pool F after a hard-fought 2-1 (14-21, 21-19, 15-12) comeback victory over Japan’s Miki Ishii and Megumi Murakami. This way, the Swiss advanced to the Round of 16 of the tournament along with second-placed Ludwig and Kozuch. The home pair finished third in the pool and will have to wait to find out whether they will need to win a lucky-loser game in order to join the best 16 in the knockout stage.
In the second leg of Pool E, Makroguzova and Kholomina and Artacho Del Solar and Clancy registered their second victories to set up a direct duel for the first place as they go against each other on Friday, but also to claim their spots among the last 16 of the tournament. The ROC pair mastered a 2-0 (21-16, 21-11) win over Cuba’s Lidy Echeverria and Leila Martinez, and the Aussies shut out Italy’s Marta Menegatti and Viktoria Orsi Toth by a narrow 2-0 (22-20, 21-19). To stay alive in the competition, the Cubans and the Italians will have to battle it out for the third place against each other.
The new men’s FIVB World Ranking leaders, Cherif and Ahmed, were trailing behind Italy’s Adrian Carambula and Enrico Rossi for the better part of the first set in the match between the two teams, but in the end they managed to deny four opponent set points before snatching the set deep into overtime. With the momentum on their side, the Qataris had complete control of the second set to cruise on to a 2-0 (24-22, 21-13) victory. To finish on top of the pool, the Qatari pair will have to overcome the resistance of Gibb and Bourne, who also enjoy a 2-0 win-loss record before the third leg. The Americans claimed a hard-fought 2-0 (21-19, 23-21) victory over Switzerland’s Adrian Heidrich and Mirco Gerson. The Swiss and the Italians will have to fight it out for the third place in the pool.
Find out more:
Today’s recap of the women’s competition
Today’s recap of the men’s competition
Quick links:
Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 - Schedule and results
Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 - Beach volleyball
FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Youtube