Rehanna Al-Tobaishi & Damla Yagmur write Qatar’s history in Doha

• Damla Yagmur & Rehanna Al-Tobaishi are the first women’s team to represent Qatar at an Elite16 event

• The Qatari pair took on Anastasija Samoilova & Tina Graudina in a Doha qualifier

• The only time Qatari women appeared on the Beach Pro Tour before was at a Futures event in Egypt

History was written in the very first game on centre court in Doha on Tuesday as the Elite16 event on the 2024 Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour got underway in the Qatari capital. For the first time in history, a Qatari women’s team competed in a major international beach volleyball tournament.

Cheered on by the home fans, Damla Yagmur & Rehanna Al-Tobaishi stepped on the court for the opening game of an event of the highest Beach Pro Tour category, representing the host country in the qualification tournament.

Rehanna ready to receive

“To be part of history feels like a movement,” 21-year-old Rehanna told Volleyball World. “As a Qatari woman, I feel like I do a lot of new stuff and present a new mindset for other women here. At first, I was actually very nervous to be on the court. I just had to get through a few minutes at the beginning and then it was actually OK.”

Qatar has had much success on the international men’s beach volleyball stage, especially thanks to Tokyo 2020 Olympic bronze medallists Cherif Younousse & Ahmed Tijan, who were additionally the world’s number one team for many weeks in 2021 and 2022. The country is now making big strides to develop the sport for women too.

The female duo from Qatar faced a tough match against Latvia’s Anastasija Samoilova & Tina Graudina, where they were beaten 2-0 (21-3, 21-7) and consequently eliminated. However, their presence represents a significant step forward for their country’s women’s beach volleyball.

Action from the Qatar v Latvia qualifier at the Doha Elite16

Speaking of her joy to be playing in the tournament. Rehanna added; “When I put on the jersey, it was a new feeling and it definitely felt right”. “I started volleyball about nine years ago in Austria and now it’s my first time on the beach, my first game on the beach, and I am happy to experience this. We knew it was a strong team we were playing against, so we were mentally prepared for a hard match. But I think we could take more out of that match and also improve ourselves from it. My message to everyone is just to keep focused, to keep hustling, to keep moving... Even if there are hard times, you have to go through it and then, in the end, you will have the best results.”

Although not at Elite16 level, 20-year-old Yagmur has previous experience of the Beach Pro Tour. The Al-Alamein Futures event in Egypt last August was the only previous time Qatari women’s pairs appeared at a world-level competition. Then the country was represented in the qualifiers by Damla Yagmur & Sheqaf Ismail and Maha Al-Kuwari & Leyla Mohammad.

“I started playing indoor volleyball four years ago in Qatar. I’ve been playing beach for a few months and I am so excited,” said Yagmur. “I have already played in two tournaments, so this is my third. I am feeling very happy to be part of history and I am thankful to our coaches, Qatar Volleyball and the Qatar Olympic Committee for supporting us. I hope we will do much better in the future. We will build upon the experience we get from this and we will continue. My message to everyone is: just keep on going, follow your dream and never give up.”

Doha Elite16: schedule and results