By Armstrong Vas
Doha: Qatar beach volleyball duo will be banking on ‘home’ experience when they will make history and begin their quest for an Olympic medal at the Copacabana beach, home of Brazilian beach volleyball.
Qatar’s qualification to Rio 2016 will mark the nation’s volleyball Olympic debut.
The Qatari pair of Brazilian-born Jefferson Santos Pereira and Cherif Younnouse made the Olympic cut, after winning the Asian Volleyball Confederation’s Continental Cup in Australia.
The ‘Men in Maroon’ will look for their own share of joy at the Games in Rio when the tournament kicks off on August 6 and Pereira, a Rio born, is ecstatic about playing in his place of birth.
“I’m really looking forward for the action to begin at the Olympics in Brazil. It is a huge feeling to make the qualification since the Olympic Games will take place in my hometown Rio de Janeiro and all my family and friends could come to watch my matches,” Pereira said.
The pair have been in good form of late as they had also triumphed at the FIVB World Tour’s inaugural Kish Island Open in Iran this year and reached the quarter-final of the World Championships in the Netherlands last year.
Pereira and Cherif left early for Brazil and are putting finishing touches to their preparations at the Barra de Tujiuca Beach in the host city.
“Copacabana is considered to be the capital of world beach volleyball. I’ll have family and lots of friends cheering for me. It would be a great occasion and I want to make our debut memorable,” said Pereira.
“We worked so hard to reach this stage. We had to leave our families behind and go abroad to train. The sacrifices we made have paid off as we’ll be part of history. We’re optimistic of a decent show,” said Cherif added.
Pereira is hopeful that the pair’s growing reputation on the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour will come handy at Olympics.
Pereira, and Cherif, both remain focussed on their performances in the sand. “We have been really improving. Volleyball in Qatar is getting better and better every year. Young players are keen to prove themselves and to represent Qatar in the international Beach Volleyball tournaments,” the 26-year-old, who has playing for Qatar for the last four years, said.
Qatar coach Pedro Paulo Costa said the confidence level of his players has shot up after winning the Krish Island tournament.
The pair won their first FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour gold medals at the Kish Island Open in February this year after first serving notice of their potential when they reached the quarter-finals of the Netherlands 2015 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships.
“They are very confident after their maiden win, I always ask them to keep the same level of standard, and they try to. We had a very high level of game in Iran and we are trying to keep the same level. Winning a gold medal was very best. They felt they can do more and they are more excited in our every day practice,” said Costa, a beach volleyball coach for the last 18 years.
Coming to Olympics Costa said: “We know the level of the competition in the tournament will be very high. There is no pressure on my players, they are relaxed and we are happy and we are glad to play against all the good teams.”
The two Qatari players in the competition face a daunting task in Rio and Costa knows what lies ahead for his players.
“I except the best, my team is ready but I always remind them it is not our main goal,” added.
The tournament will bring together 24 female and 24 male pairs to compete from August 6 to 8.
Qatar are drawn in Pool F against an American pair, Spain and Austria and will aim to make it to the knockout stage.
The Qatari pair will face USA’s Gibb-Patterson on the first day of the tournament. It will then play versus Spain’s Herrera-Gavira on August 8 and Austria’s Huber-Seidl on August 10.
The next round will be a single-elimination stage consisting of 16 teams, where the loser in every match gets eliminated.
The round will include the top two teams in each pool (12 total), the two best third-ranked teams in the competition, plus the two winners of the Lucky Loser matches between the remaining four third-place teams.
The Peninsula
