They were the lowest-ranked pairing heading into women’s qualification in Qatar’s capital city, but earned two impressive victories.

Paulikiene and Kliokmanaite overcame Austria’s Dorina and Ronja Klinger 24-22, 25-23 in their first qualification match.

Another tight contest followed against France’s Aline Chamereau and Clemence Vieira, with the Lithuania pair coming from behind to win 19-21, 22-20, 15-13.

France’s Lezana Placette and Alexia Richard came through qualification with a 21-17, 21-15 win over Finland’s Ida and Sara Sinisalo.

Maria Rivas Zapata and Chris Villablanca, the top seeds in qualifying, reached the pool phase as the Chileans beat Poland’s Agata Ceynowa and Patrycja Jundzill 21-17, 21-14.

Finland’s Taru Lahti-Liukkonen and Nina Ahtiainen, Canada’s Amanda Harnett and Alina Dormann, and Slovenia’s Tjasa Kotnik and Tajda Lovsin all booked their places in the pool phase.

All three pairings came through their final qualification matches in three games to advance.

Men’s qualification saw Australia’s Izac Carracher and Mark Nicolaidis clinch a place in the pool phase.

The duo earned a 21-19, 21-18 win over Canada’s Jake MacNeil and Alexander Russell.

Latvia’s Edgar Tocs and Kristians Fokerots were forced to battle for their place, with the pairing eventually overcoming Switzerland’s Adrian Heidrich and Leo Dillier 21-19, 17-21, 15-12.

The Beach Pro Tour’s Challenge tournament in Doha is scheduled to run until May 8.

Host Qatar has staged several volleyball international events successfully in the last couple of years, including on the International Volleyball Federation Beach World Tour.