Beach volleyball in Qatar recently came into the spotlight when the national team clinched silver in its 4×4 version during the inaugural ANOC World Beach Games in Doha.

But Qatar’s push to build on the momentum hit a roadblock when three of its teams crashed out of the Aspire Cup, a one-star event of the FIVB World Tour, at the Al Gharafa Centre Court on Thursday.

Ziad Benlouaer and Saifeddine Azizi Al Majid had qualified for the quarterfinals after earning a hard-fought 2-1 win over Japan’s Koichi Nishimura and Daisuke Shibata (21-13, 17-21, 15-13). But they were unable to get past Russia’s Petr Bakhnar and Yury Bogatov in the last eight game and lost in straight sets (19-21, 17-21).

Assam Ahmed Mahmoud and Mahdie Badreddin Sammoud made it to the Round of 12, but went down to the Dutch pair of Sven Vismans and Tom van Steenis in straight sets (17-21, 18-21).

Qatar’s third team, consisting of Denis Messelmani and Ahmed Ali Nassir, had failed to get past the pool stages.

Sweden’s Youth Olympic Games champions David Ahman and Jonatan Helvig will take on Poland’s Jedrzej Brozyniak and Piotr Janiak in the first semifinal on Friday. Oman’s Nouh Al Jalbubi and Mazin Alhashmi will face Bakhnar and Bogatov in the other last-four game.

The bronze and gold medal matches will follow after these encounters.