Younousse and Tijan win Qatar's first beach volleyball bronze

MATCH STATS

Qatar's Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan downed Latvia's Martins Plavins and Edgars Tocs in the men's beach volleyball bronze medal match, 21-12, 21-18.

The straight sets victory provided Qatar's first medal in the sport -- and eighth overall medal in the history of the Olympics. By those standards, the country has enjoyed overwhelming success at the 2020 Tokyo Games, where they've won one gold in weightlifting and another in track and field.  

This final took place during another extremely hot and humid day. After a first-set tie at 8-8, Qatar managed a four-point lead -- and, after dropping a point, bounced back with another five-point streak. Younousse and Tijan conquered the set with a blowout nine-point margin.

Despite some back-and-forth in the second set, the Qataris took the advantage at 15-all and ran with it. Though Latvia scored an additional few points, Qatar won the match by three.  

While their success wasn't exactly predictable from the outset, Younousse and Tijan played well throughout the tournament. They topped Pool C in the preliminary rounds with three wins and zero losses. 

Previously, Younousse competed alongside compatriot Jefferson Pereira at the 2016 Rio Olympics; they lost in the round of 16. However, he and his new partner won gold at the 2018 Asian Games.

Latvia's Plavins won beach volleyball bronze at the 2012 London Olympics.

The men's beach volleyball gold medal match, between Norway and the Russian Olympic Committee, starts Saturday at 10:30 ET.