All is set for the “PPTV” 2022 Asian “Hamrahe Avval” Senior Men’s Beach Volleyball Championship, which will be held from November 14 to 18 in Bandar Abbas, a port city and capital of Hormozgan Province on the southern coast of Iran, with Qataris Cherif Younousse/Ahmed Tijan leading star cast and Aussies Christopher McHugh/Paul Burnett back to defend their title.
A strong field of 29 teams from 11 countries will be out to prove their talents in this championship. They comprise 4 teams from hosts Iran, 3 each from Australia, Qatar, China, Thailand, Japan and Kazakhstan, 2 apiece from Oman, Indonesia and Hong Kong China and one from India.
Among the big names in the continent’s topflight competition are Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan, who topped the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Ranking for about nine months from August 2021 to May 2022.
The superb Qatari duo, current FIVB World Ranking No.3, claimed bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics aside from winning back-to-back Asian Championship in 2018 and 2019, the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia, FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour 4-star events including the Cancun event in Mexico last year and the last month’s Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Challenge event in Maldives.
Australian Christopher McHugh, had already captured 5 Asian titles in 2012 (with partner Isaac Kapa), 2014 (with Kapa), 2016 (with Kapa) and 2020 (with Damien Schumann).
In the 2021 edition in Phuket, Thailand, McHugh partnered Paul Burnett to beat Iranians Bahman Salemi/Abolhassan Khakizadeh in the final showdown to reign supreme. This time, the Australian pairing are back to defend their title and help the country stretch it to three in succession in the Asian Championship. More importantly, McHugh also teamed up with Damien Schumann to hand hosts Australia the gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast.
Another Australian duo, Zachery Schubert/Thomas Hodges, also made their mark in international stage. They had captured three titles in 2022 to their name comprising the Orlen Beach Volleyball Tour in Kolobrzeg, Poland in August, the AVC Beach Tour Samila Open in Thailand in September and the Matsuyama Beach Volleyball Tour in Japan in October.
Teammates Izaac Carracher and Mark Nicolaidis also prove to be a strong team to be reckoned with in Bandar Abbas. They sealed gold medal in the Coolangatta Futures at home and finished a well-earned 9th place at the 2022 World Championships.
Meanwhile, Chinese Ha…
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