Qatar continued their impressive run at the 18th Asian Games in Indonesia by clinching three more medals – one gold and two bronze to take the medals tally haul to double digits.

Yesterday, the beach volleyball pair of Ahmed Tijan and Cherif Younousse delivered the knockout punch by clinching the gold while Abdullah Abubakr won the bronze medal in the 800m and Qatari riders won the team bronze in showjumping event to take the medals tally to 10 medals.

In beach volleyball, World’s 10th ranked Ahmed/Cherif proved their superiority by beating the host pair Ade Candra Rachmawan and Mohammad Ashfiya   2-0 (26-24, 21-17) at the final showdown at Jakabaring Sport City Beach Volleyball Court.

Cheered by thousands of local spectators, host pair of Rachmawan/Asfiya came into the match quickly with their fast moving and variegated attacking. However, the Qatari duo showed no inferiority by tailing after the host duo closely before they were left behind 12-15 following a dip by the opponent to finish the rally. Qatar called a timeout and it worked as they soon caught up to 19-19 tie, forcing host pair to call a timeout. Nevertheless, the Qatar duo led to reach the set point and after several deuces, they managed to win the close set 26-24.

Qatar-Asian-games

Source: Peninsula Qatar

Keeping the momentum to the second set, Qatar established a narrow lead from the beginning. Despite the host duo attempted several times to draw nearer to one point difference at 12-13 and 15-16, Qatar refused them to step further. Following a clean block by Cherif, Qatar took the set 21-17, the match 2-0 and their first Asian Games gold medal.

“I am so happy to win the gold medal. We have been well prepared and we believe the gold medal belongs to us. ” Cherif said.4“We just focused on the play. There is no much affection from the local cheering spectators. We experienced more spectators than here before. We just get used to that.”

In the bronze medal contest, host pair of Gilang/Anangsyah maintained their fantastic groove and knocked the higher-seeded and taller Chinese duo Gao/Li out of the top three in 2-1 (21-15, 19-21, 15-6).
In the 800m,  Qatar’s Abubakr claimed the bronze medal with a time of 1:46.38 after Indian runner Manjit Singh who won the gold with a time of 1:46.15 and his teammate Jinson Johnson who won the silver with a time 1:46.35. Qatar’s Jamal Hairana finished in sixth place with a time of 1:49.05.

Qatar’s second bronze of the day came when equestrian riders comprising of Sheikh Ali bin Khaled Al Thani, Basem Hassan, Hamad Al Attiayah and Salmen Al Suwaidi claimed the third place in the team. Saudi Arabi claimed the gold while the Japanese team finished second.

In Boxing, Tharumalinga Thulasimaaran lost to Jordan’s Eashash 0-5 in the quarter-finals of Men’s Welter (69kg)  while the Squash team lost the Men’s Team Pool B match to India 2-1.
In the men’s volleyball quarter-finals, Qatar defeated Japan 3-2 to book a place in the last four stage.

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Source: Peninsula Qatar