News Beach volleyball 18/04/2018 Xiamen debut for Israel’s Ohana & Cohen Xiamen, China, April 18, 2018 - Shani Cohen from Israel makes his FIVB World Tour debut at the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Xiamen Open playing alongside partner Netanel Amiram Ohana.Quick links - FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour:Xiamen - WebsiteXiamen - Schedule and ResultsXiamen - Tournament NotesFIVB.com - Beach VolleyballLatest VideosFacebookTwitterInstagramTwenty-one year old Cohen had previously played in age-group continental championships before arriving in Xiamen for the four-star event.“It was pretty nice, at first you think oh it’s my first match in a big tournament, four stars, but when you come as an underdog you don’t have anything to lose, you play with your heart and you fight. I think we got a really good score, we could do better but it’s OK for our first match I think,” said Cohen. The Israeli pair faced USA’s Ryan Doherty and William Allen in their opening qualification match. Despite being defeated by the USA pair, Ohana/Cohen played a tough match bringing the score to 2-0 (21-19, 21-18). “We’re a little disappointed because we played good, we were pretty consistent, just a little drop in the tension and we lost the match. But it was a good fight against a much higher ranked team. It’s our first tournament together, we have been training for two months and it’s mixed feelings, but overall we’re happy with our performance,” said Ohana.USA’s Ryan Doherty at the net with William Allen face Netanel Amiram Ohana and Shani Cohen in their opening Xiamen Open 2018 qualification match“I think the same, we fought, we’re very close, but the two or three points at the end we missed and that was the match. We lost, but I think we lost with a good fight and not with a big score,” said Cohen. The pair will return to Israel to continue training and have eyes on their next World Tour stop in Manila on 3 May. “We’ve been training in Israel, we have a small national team, two teams we train together with them and we just came and played with what we have. It’s beach volleyball, you do the same with different partners, of course you have an advantage when you know each other well and have good chemistry, but I think we proved to ourselves that we have this and we just need to work more on it. It’s his first senior tournament, he only played under 20, under 18, pretty young and overall we’re pleased. We know we can go back to Israel and work to make it even better,We will go to Manila and if we play this level, I think it will be our best result, I think at least quarterfinal performance in a one-star,” said Ohana. Print this Page News {{item.LocalShortDate}} {{item.Title}} All the News