Cherif and Ahmed making case as one of the best in world

QNA/FIVB Lausanne/Mexico The International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) on Monday announced that the first Qatari beach volleyball team of Cherif Younousse...

QNA/FIVBLausanne/MexicoThe International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) on Monday announced that the first Qatari beach volleyball team of Cherif Younousse and Ahmad Tijan has made a big leap in the international rankings, now being third in the world with 3040 points (for the best teams that played over the past 365 days).The FIVB confirmed that this ranking is based on the best 4 results from the last 6 recognized FIVB tournaments played over the course of a whole year.In terms of the international rankings of teams, the Qatari national team continued to rise in the world ranking, and came in eighth place with 5280 points, according to the rankings updated on Monday by the FIVB.As for the classification of the teams that will qualify directly for the next Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, the Qatari team is ranked fifth after gaining 7,400 points. According to the announced classification, the Qatari team guarantees one of the seats that qualify directly for the Olympiad, according to the FIVB.Cherif and Ahmed will leave the Cancun Hub with gold medals around their necks. Silver medallists in the first two FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour 4-star events at the Playa Delfines, the Qataris climbed another step on the podium on Sunday as they won the third and final tournament in Mexico.After losing back-to-back finals to Norway’s Anders Mol and Christian Sorum, the 25-year-old Cherif and the 26-year-old Ahmed remained strong and secured the title of the final tournament on Mexican sand with a 2-0 (21-15, 21-12) win against Russians Konstantin Semenov and Ilya Leshukov.It was the first victory for the Qataris together in a 4-star event and just their second as a team, following their triumph in a 1-star tournament in Doha in February. Cherif and Ahmed have won more medals than any other men’s team in 2021, with two golds and two silvers in five tournaments.“It’s the first gold for us in a four-star event and it feels amazing. To make it to three finals in three weeks and to get the gold at the end, it’s unbelievable. We just kept fighting, that’s what we did,” he added.Cherif and Ahmed are certainly making a case to be considered the No. 2 team in the world as we inch closer towards the Tokyo Olympics. “We trust the process,” Cherif said after the win over Russia. “We know it’s a long process, so we just tried to focus on our play each game and we are really thankful to be here with the gold. It’s been so long, three weeks, and we’re tired, but we just tried to keep our focus as high as we could.”And the result was as high as it could get. Mol and Sorum were the only other team to win multiple medals in Cancun. Only Qatar won medals in all three.“I feel so amazing about this,” Tijan said. “This is history. Three finals in three weeks and at the end, we get the gold, it’s unbelievable.”