Qataris Cherif/Ahmed in quarterfinal action against Aussies Schubert/Hodges
Top seeds Abdolhamed Mirzaali/Arash Vakili, second seeds Cherif Younousse/Ahmed Tijan and in-form Chinese Li Zhuoxin/Xue Tao all struggled in hard-fought three-setters on Thursday, but third seeds Christopher McHugh/Paul Burnett sealed comfortable win to see them book their semifinal slots in the Bandar Abbas-hosted 2022 Asian Senior Men’s Beach Volleyball Championship in Iran.
In the Friday morning’s do-or-die semifinals, Iranians Mirzaali and Vakili will challenge Australian McHugh/Burnett, with Chinese Li/Xue going up against Qataris Cherif/Ahmed.
The excitement of the continent’s five-day topflight competition had reached its fever pitch since the Thursday morning when all qualified 16 teams made their utmost efforts to come up with their best performances in the action-packed round of 16.
However, only the teams with remarkable performances made their mark in the knockout round of last 16, putting it past their respective opponents to advance to the action-packed quarterfinals later in the afternoon.
Australians Zachery Schubert and Thomas Hodges, who picked up silver medal at the last week’s AVC Beach Tour Bandar Abbas Open here, secured their quarterfinal berth after 2-0 (21-12, 21-17) demolition of Thailand’s Pithak Tipjan/Poravid Taovato.
Qataris Cherif and Ahmed, who topped the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Ranking for about nine months from August 2021 until May 2022, recovered from the first-set loss to beat Australia’s fourth seeds Izac Carracher and Mark Nicolaidis, winners at the 2022 Coolangatta Future Beach Pro Tour, 17-21, 21-13, 15-12.
Iranians Mirzaali and Vakili were also given a sturdy challenge from Dunwinit Kaewsai and Intuch Techakijvorakul to beat the Thai 15th seeds 21-13, 20-22, 15-13 in exhausting encounter.
Oman’s Mazin Alhashmi and Hood Alialaboubi smashed Chinese Ha Likejiang/Wu Jiaxin’s sweet dreams of capturing back-to-back title in Bandar Abbas to stun the last week’s AVC Beach Tour Bandar Abbas Open champions with a comeback 2-1 (19-21, 21-12, 15-10) win.
Also advancing were another Chinese pairing, Li Zhuoxin/Xue Tao, who struggled to get past Kazakhstan’s Dimitriy Yakovlev/Sergey Bogatu 21-19, 13-21, 15-10, while Kazakhs Pustynnikov/Petrossyants came from behind to beat Iranians Bahman Salemi/Alireza Aghajanighasab 14-21, 22-20, 15-13.
The other remaining two matches in round of the last 16 saw…
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