FILE PHOTO: Paris 2024 Olympics - Beach Volleyball - Men's Preliminary Phase - Pool A - Qatar vs Australia (Cherif/Ahmed vs Nicolaidis/Carracher) - Eiffel Tower Stadium, Paris, France - August 01, 2024. Cherif Younousse of Qatar celebrates with a Qatar branded scarf. REUTERS/Louisa Gouliamaki/File Photo
PARIS (Reuters) - Cherif Younousse started playing elite beach volleyball later than many of the sport's big names but heading to the Paris Games he had already won an Olympic bronze medal.
The 29-year-old and his partner Ahmed Tijan started their Olympic campaign with three wins out of three in the pool stage, the second on Monday when they came from a set down to beat top-ranked Swedes David Ahman and Jonatan Hellvig.
The African-born duo are not, however, getting carried away with their start at the spectacular venue in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower.
"I would say for us, the big goal is to play well and the results will come," Younousse told Reuters.
"We have nothing to lose. We must enjoy and play very well and anything we achieve we are thankful for."
Younousse was born in Senegal, where he grew up played volleyball on the beaches of the capital Dakar before his family moved to Qatar.
"Beach volleyball is a childhood love because you start very young," he said.
"It was very tough and long journey. I started playing for the army club in Qatar for a couple of years in the league and in 2014 we started playing on world stage."
Younousse thinks not playing at the highest level earlier did put him at a disadvantage.
"I just played one underage tournament compared to six or seven tournaments big names played," he said. "They started competitive playing early. You need time to reach a top level."
Younousse and Gambian-born Tijan, however, aced, blocked and bumped their way to the Olympic podium in Tokyo three years ago to give Qatar its first medal in the sport.
"We are blessed to win an Olympic medal in a very short time," Younousse said.
"Qatar is a very young country in beach volleyball compared to countries like Poland and France and other nations who haven't even won medals. We are very grateful to all the people believed in us."
Having topped their group, Younousse and Tijan should have plenty of confidence heading into the round of 16 next week.
They will be joined by Cuban with Poland, Norway and the Czech Republic also likely to be represented in the first knockout stage.
"The map of the sport is changing," Younousse said. "There were only USA and Brazil before, now you have Sweden, Norway, and us. There are a lot of young European teams.
"The world is changing and you have to move and change, we are really aware of that."
(Reporting by Ashraf Hamed Atta, editing by Ed Osmond)
