Bandar Abbas: 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.

Qatar’s 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.

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.

Source: Qatar Olympic Committee