Qatar's Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan continued their promising start to their first event as a pair ©FIVB

Qatar's Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan continued their promising start to their first International Volleyball Federation Beach World Tour by reaching the second knock-out round of the event in The Hague.

The Qatari pairing bypassed the third knock-out stage as they finished at the summit of Pool H with a battling victory over Anders Mol and Christian Sorumat of Norway at the SportsCampus Zuiderpark Indoor Arena.

Younousse and Tijan dropped the opening set but recovered to claim a 21-23, 21-19, 15-13 win.

"It is a good start for us," Younousse said. 

"We started well and had to be patient in the game especially as it went to a tie-break. 

"Our defence was working very well and at the end our side-out was so-so, but the time-out at the end changed everything."

Dries Koekelkoren and Tom van Walle of Belgium were among the other teams to progress straight through to the second knock-out round of the men's event.

Dries Koekelkoren and Tom van Walle of Belgium were among the other teams to progress straight through to the second knock-out round of the men's event ©FIVB
Dries Koekelkoren and Tom van Walle of Belgium were among the other teams to progress straight through to the second knock-out round of the men's event ©FIVB

The Belgian duo swept aside Canada's Ben Saxton and Grant O'Gorman 21-11, 21-16 to top Pool F.

The result ensured Koekelkoren and Van Walle booked their place in the second knock-out phase of the tournament.

"They are a new team, but individually they are both really good players and both have a lot of experience, so we knew it would be tough," said Van Walle.

"We gained a lot of momentum from winning the first set and we started the second much better, but we had to stay focused every point and side-out. 

"It was a good team win."

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