Nagoya (Japan), September 29 (QNA) - Defending champions Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan moved one step closer to a historic third consecutive Asian Games beach volleyball gold medal, powering into the quarterfinals of the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 tournament with a commanding straight-set victory over Vietnam on Tuesday.
The Qatari duo controlled the match from the outset, cruising to a 21-9, 21-16 win to book their place in the last eight.
They will face Iran's Abbas Pouraskar and Alireza Aghajani in the quarterfinals on Wednesday. The Iranian pair advanced after edging Japan's Juntaro Tachiya and Yusuke Ishijima 2-1.
Younousse and Tijan have been unbeaten so far in their bid to extend their Asian Games dominance. The two-time champions topped Group A in the preliminary round after dispatching the Philippines' Abdila and Francisco 21-7, 21-10, before overcoming Oman's Hood Al Jalboobi and Mazen Al Hashmi 21-19, 21-19.
The Qatari stars, gold medalists at Jakarta 2018 and Hangzhou 2022, are now three wins away from completing a hat-trick of Asian Games titles.
Qatar's other pair, Moussa Al Khair and Ehab Mohamed, saw their campaign end in the round of 16 after falling 13-21, 16-21 to China's Song Jinyang and Wang Yanwei.
Al Khair and Mohamed advanced from Group D as runners-up after opening with a straight-set victory over South Korea's Sangbin and Jeongtaek and then defeating Sri Lanka's Sadun and Delipa 2-1. They suffered a 0-2 loss to Thailand's Purawit and Pithak in their final group match to finish second behind the Thai pair. (QNA)