Rio de Janeiro, August 12, 2016 - Pool E winners, Russia's Viacheslav Krasilnikov/Konstantin Semenov battles Jefferson Santos Pereira/Cherif Younousse of Qatar, 2nd place in pool F, in a round of 16 match that is the third meeting between the two teams on the FIVB World Tour. The Qataris will be looking for their first victory against the Russians. The winner will advance to the quarterfinals, and the loser will be eliminated with a 9th-place finish.
Head to Head
Krasilnikov/Semenov won both meetings between the two teams on the FIVB World Tour, including a match in Rio back in March of this year
• Krasilnikov/Semenov won 21-14 and 21-17 in 32 minutes, Rio de Janeiro Grand Slam, Pool Play, 03/10/2016
• Krasilnikov/Semenov won 22-20 and 21-17 in 39 minutes, Lucerne Open, Pool Play, 05/14/2015
Historically the #8 Seed has never played the #19 Seed in the Olympic Games.
Viacheslav Krasilnikov/Konstantin Semenov, Russia, Seed #8, Pool E, 3-0, 1st Place, Qualified 9th with 5,230 Points in the 2015-16 Olympic qualification period
• Viacheslav: April 28, 1991 (25y3m9d), 196 cm (6'5"), 73 kg (162 lbs.), Hometown Gelengzik, 34th FIVB World Tour event, one gold medal, $176,387 career winnings
• Konstantin: June 9, 1989 (27y1m28d), 210 cm (6'11"), 100 kg (222 lbs.), Hometown Tokmak, Kyrgyzstan, 74th FIVB World Tour event, two gold medals, $269,362 career winnings (ranks 77th)
• Viacheslav and Konstantin have been playing together since 2013. They are playing in their 32nd FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour tournament together, one gold medal, $340,775 career winnings (ranks 52nd).
• Viacheslav has played in nine FIVB World Tour final fours with one gold, three silver, two bronze medals and three 4th place finishes.
• Konstantin has played in 10 FIVB World Tour final fours with two gold, three silver, two bronze medals and three 4th place finishes.
• Viacheslav and Konstantin have played in five Final Fours in 2015-2016 (4th Yokohama Grand Slam 2015, 4th Sochi Open 2015, 4th Xiamen Open 2016, Silver Sochi Open 2016, Bronze Hamburg Major 2016).
• Konstantin finished 9th in the Olympic Games with Serguey Prokopyev in 2012 (London).
• Viacheslav and Konstantin finished 9th in the FIVB World Championships in 2015 (The Hague).
• Konstantin finished 9th in the FIVB World Championships in 2011 (Rome) and 9th in 2013 (Stare Jablonki), both with Yaroslav Koshkarev.
• Viacheslav and Konstantin are currently ranked 21st in FIVB World Tour points in 2016 with 3,180 points and 18th in winnings with $82,700.
• Viacheslav and Konstantin have a career 104-56 (65.0%) match record in FIVB World Tour Events and a 67-35 (65.7%) record in 2015-16.
• Viacheslav and Konstantin won the silver medal at the European (CEV) Continental Championships in 2016 (Biel, Switzerland).
• Yaroslav and Konstantin Semenov won one gold medal on the CEV Continental Tour in 2013.
• Defeated Grzegorz Fijalek/Mariusz Prudel, Poland (17), 21-14 and 21-13 in 36 minutes.
• Defeated Esteban Grimalt/Marco Grimalt, Chile (20), 21-17 and 21-14 in 35 minutes.
• Defeated Reinder Nummerdor/Christiaan Varenhorst, Netherlands (5), 21-15, 14-21, and 15-9 in 48 minutes.
Jefferson Santos Pereira/Cherif Younousse, Qatar, Seed #19, Pool F, 2-1, 2nd Place, Qualified through Asian Confederation (AVC) Continental Cup
• Jefferson: June 8, 1989 (27y1m29d), 182 cm (6'0"), 87 kg (193 lbs.), Hometown Doha, 22nd FIVB World Tour event, one gold medal, $28,287 career winnings
• Cherif: May 22, 1995 (21y2m15d), 195 cm (6'5"), 76 kg (169 lbs.), Hometown Doha, 14th FIVB World Tour event, one gold medal, $19,700 career winnings
• Jefferson and Cherif have been playing together since 2015. They are playing in their 13th FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour tournament together, one gold medal, $39,400 career winnings. They won Qatar's only FIVB World Tour gold medal.
• Jefferson has played in one FIVB World Tour final four with one gold medal.
• Cherif has played in one FIVB World Tour final four with one gold medal.
• Jefferson and Cherif have played in one Final Four in 2015-2016 (Gold Kish Island 2016).
• Jefferson and Cherif finished 5th in the FIVB World Championships in 2015 (The Hague).
• Jefferson and Cherif are currently ranked 42nd in FIVB World Tour points in 2016 with 1,380 points and 42nd in winnings with $19,800.
• Jefferson and Cherif have a career 22-29 (43.1%) match record in FIVB World Tour Events, all in 2015-16.
• Jefferson and Tiago Santos won the bronze medal at the AVC Continental Championships in 2014 (China) and one gold medal on the AVC Continental Tour in 2014 (Khanom, Thailand).
• Cherif is the youngest men's player competing in the Rio Olympics at 21 years, 2 months of age. He is the second youngest man to participate in Olympic Beach Volleyball competition, Czech Republic's Martin Lebl was 20 years and 5 months at the start of the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.
• Jefferson and Cherif teamed with Julio Junior/Ahmed Tijan to lead Qatar to its first-ever appearance in the Olympic Beach Volleyball competition by winning the Asian Continental Cup in Cairns, Australia. The Qatar pairs were undefeated in six matches in Cairns with team wins over Iran, Kazakhstan and China. All six of the Qatar matches were three-setters with four of the wins being comeback victories after losing the first set.
• Lost to Jake Gibb/Casey Patterson, United States (6), 16-21 and 16-21 in 35 minutes.
• Defeated Adrian Gavira/Pablo Herrera, Spain (7), 13-21, 21-18, and 15-12 in 54 minutes.
• Defeated Alexander Huber/Robin Seidl, Austria (18), 18-21, 21-19, and 15-12 in 55 minutes.