Qatar's in-form Younousse and Tijan target last 8 berth

Doha: Qatar s in form beach volleyball duo Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan will be looking to eliminate Chilean cousins Marco and Esteban Grimalt tod...

Doha: Qatar’s in-form beach volleyball duo Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan will be looking to eliminate Chilean cousins Marco and Esteban Grimalt today as they aim to secure a quarter-final berth at the Paris Olympics today.

The Tokyo Olympics bronze winners Younousse and Tijan, unbeaten in the Paris Games, will meet the former Pan American and South American champions in the last Round of 16 tie.

While the Qataris stormed to the second round with a dominant record, having clinched three straight wins in Pool A, the Grimalts had to win the ‘Lucky losers’ clash’ against Canada’s Samuel Schachter and Daniel Dearing late on Saturday.

However, following an early retirement of the Canadian pair due to Dearing’s injury, the 23rd-seeded Chileans won by forfeit to advance.

Younousse and Tijan are again on a collision course against the world’s number one team David Ahman and Jonatan Hellvig of Sweden, who yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals after stopping Noslen Diaz and Jorge Alayo of Cuba with a hard-earned 2-1 (21-11, 26-28, 15-11) win.