The Swedish beach volleyball duo is world number eight and came to the games in Paris with an incredible winning streak. In the premiere, the 18th consecutive victory came, but there the streak ended.
We're actually playing a good match and it's super tight, we could just as well have won. We save several match balls and also have some of our own, says David Åhman after 1–2 in sets against Qatar's Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan.
The ranking lies
The Qatari pair is ranked 14th in the world, but that's a figure that lies, says Jonatan Hellvig. Younousse/Tijan are reigning OS bronze medalists and also won the premiere against the Italian duo Samuele Cottafava and Paolo Nicolai.
Qatar is much better than what their ranking says. They've had some injury concerns and haven't been able to play as many tournaments as they would have liked. We knew it would be extremely tough, says Hellvig.
In the first set, most things worked for Sweden. And their unique "jump set" technique has all teams struggling to defend against.
It basically comes down to Åhman/Hellvig being able to decide already on the second hit – opponents don't know if the Swedes will smash or pass after receiving the serve – and the first set ended with Hellvig smashing in 21–15 in just that way.
We were super happy with how we played that set, says Hellvig.
It's mainly our reception that makes us lose the match. We're playing pretty well, but the few points we give away are what make the difference in such tight matches, says Åhman.
Italy next
Qatar took home the second set with 21–19 and the decisive set became a thriller. Sweden got a match ball at 14–13 (decisive set goes to 15) but Qatar saved. Qatar then shook off three match balls – at 15–14, 16–15, and 17–16 – but Sweden saved all.
The next match ball became Swedish, but not even there came the decision.
Instead, the Qataris got a new chance, took it, and won the last set with 20–18.
Åhman and Hellvig will conclude the group stage on Thursday against Cottafava/Nicolai from Italy.
