Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan secured Qatar's first-ever medal in the men's beach volleyball event at the Olympics after downing Latvia's Martins Plavins and Edgars Tocs in straight sets (21-12, 21-18) to clinch the bronze medal of the Tokyo 2020 Games at the Shiokaze Park today.

The victory is a soothing relief for the Qatari players who missed the final after enduring a shocking defeat to reigning world champions Viacheslav Krasilnikov and Oleg Stoyanovskiy of Russia during the semifinals on Thursday.

The straight-set 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 Team Qatar have won one gold in weightlifting and another in track and field.

This match took place during another sweltering 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 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.

Meanwhile, Christian Sorum and Anders Mol beat Russia in the gold medal match, earning Norway's first medal in the sport.

The top-seeded Norwegians beat the reigning world champions 21-17, 21-18 in intermittent rain at the Shiokaze Park venue overlooking Tokyo Bay. With Qatar's victory over Latvia for the bronze earlier in the day, all three countries on the podium -- and all six players -- are first-time medalists.

In fact, the only repeat medalist in either the men's or women's divisions was American April Ross, who won gold with Alix Klineman on Friday. Ross had also won silver in London and bronze in Brazil.

Viacheslav Krasilnikov and Oleg Stoyanovskiy led 8-4 before giving up six straight points, including one when Mol landed on Krasilnikov's foot. The Russians called timeout and limped to their bench for treatment, but the match resumed, and Norway extended the lead to 15-11.

The second set was tied 12-12 before Norway scored four points in a row and never trailed again.

Younousse and Tijan’s result wrapped up what has proved to be Qatar’s most successful Olympic outing ever. Team Qatar, who are scheduled to touch down at the Hamad International Airport at 8:30 pm today, will definitely be returning to the waiting arms of a delighted and appreciative country set to roll out the drums in honour of the heroes from Tokyo.

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