Qatar’s Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan celebrate a point.
Doha, Qatar: Qatar’s top-ranked pair Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan maintained their unbeaten run at the AVC Beach Tour Doha Open 2026 yesterday, defeating Indonesia’s Mulyo Prasetyo Ferza and Purnomosidi Akbar Rizqy 21-13, 21-9 to advance to the quarter-finals.
At the FIVB International Centre of Excellence in Al Gharafa, the home stars kicked off their title chase with straight-set 21-9, 21-15 win over China’s Li Wei and Yuan Nengfei. The newly crowned Asian Games gold medallists had beaten Thailand’s S Nobphadon and T Poravid 2-0 (21-15, 21-19) on the opening day.
With their latest victory, Cherif and Tijan completed a dominant Pool A campaign and stayed ahead of the rest of the pack, who have won a match each.
Among them, Nobphadon and Poravid barely managed to advance thanked to winning one set more than their closest rivals Wei-Nengfei and Ferza-Rizqy who had both won two sets each from their three pool stage matches.
Meanwhile, Qatar’s Mou Musa Alkeer and Zaki Mohamed Ihab suffered a 2-0 defeat to Australia’s Oliver Merritt and Jed Walker in Pool C. The Australian pair won 21-13, 21-17.
In Pool D, Indonesia’s Faisal Imam Ahmad and Bayhaqi Fairuz edged Qatar’s Binaziz Elmajid Saifeddine and Mahmoud Assam Ahmed 2-1 in a closely contested match. Indonesia lost the opening set 18-21 but recovered to win the next two 21-13, 23-21.
Australia’s Solomon Bushby and Justin Schumann topped Pool B following victories over their Lebanese, Chinese and Japanese counterparts, while another Aussie pair, Oliver Merritt and Jed Walker also finished the Group stage on a high, leading Pool C ahead of China’s Li Xiaokai-Sun Xinglong, Qatar’s Alkeer-Ihab and Saudi Arabia’s Wafi Aljasir-Ali Alawami.
In the women’s competition, Qatar’s Haya Abuissa and Leyla Bahmanzadeh suffered a straight-sets defeat to Australia’s Jana Milutinovic and Tara Phillips in Pool D. The Australian pair won 21-11, 21-7 on Centre Court.
The quarter-finals and semi-finals are scheduled for today, with the third-place matches and finals in both the men’s and women’s competitions set for October 13.
