World champions and Olympians in action in Brno this week
Futures in Europe
Czech beach volleyball fans will be able to watch the country’s top teams in person this week, when the city of Brno hosts a Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Futures event which will count on world champions and Olympic teams from Thursday to Sunday.
The venue setup at the Sokolske Koupaliste will host the event for a second-straight season but expectations will be higher for the home fans this time as reigning world champions Ondrej Perusic and David Schweiner are entered to play in the men’s tournament while Paris Olympians Barbora Hermannová and Marie-Sára Štochlová will be in action among the women.
The winners of last year’s World Championship, Perusic and Schweiner were ninth at the Paris Olympics and had to sit out of the 2024 CEV EuroBeachVolley for medical reasons, but will be on the court this week in Brno leading five men’s Czech teams in their home sand.
The two are the top-seeded team on the men’s side and will start the tournament in the main draw, as well as third-seeded Matyas Dzavoronok/Jan Dumek, ninth-seeded Tadeas Trousil/David Westphal and wildcards Krystof Oliva/Vaclav Kurka – Tomas Semerad/Adam Stocek begin in the qualifier.
The Czech duos will be strong contenders for medals this week after taking silver last year with Dzavoronok and former partner Vaclav Bercik and finishing fourth with Dumek and then teammate Jiri Sedlak.
Challenging the home sides will be second-seeded Brazilians Adelmo Folha and Mateus Dultra, fourth-seeded Swedish and reigning U22 European champions Jacob Hölting Nilsson and Elmer Andersson and last year’s Brno Futures champions Markus Mol and Jo Sunde of Norway.
With 28 teams entered, the men’s tournament in Brno will feature sides from 18 countries. Europe’s delegation has five duos from Czechia, three from Norway and Ukraine, two from Austria and Germany and one from Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Spain and Sweden. Brazil, Japan and the United States will have one team competing this week.
Fresh from a 17th-place finish at the Paris Olympics and from ranking fifth in the EuroBeachVolley, Hermannová and Štochlová enter the Brno Futures as the favorites on the women’s side, especially after they took gold in the event last year.
They are one of six Czech duos entered in the tournament and start in the main draw, alongside Kylie Neuschaeferova/Marketa Svoziloza, Miroslava Dunarova/Daniela Mokrá and Mariana Tomasova/Julie Honzovicova. Valerie Dvorníková/Karin Zolnercikova and Andrea Lorenzova/Magdalena Černá begin in the qualifier.
Two other teams that also competed at the EuroBeachVolley will be in action in the Brno Futures – Lithuania’s Ieva Dumbauskaite/Ieva Vasiliauskaite and Austria’s Franziska Friedl/Anja Trailovic.
The women’s field in Brno also has 28 teams, featuring 19 countries. Europe will be represented by teams from Czechia (6), Ukraine (3), Lithuania (2), Slovakia (2), Austria, Belgium, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Scotland, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. Coming from outside the continent are one team from Brazil and another from Canada.
The tournament will start on Thursday, with 16 teams in each gender playing in the qualifier, from where four will emerge. On Friday, they will join the 12 men’s and women’s best-ranked teams in the main draw, with pool matches taking place on the first day, the elimination rounds on Saturday and the medal matches on Sunday.
The Beach Pro Tour Futures events in Europe are run by the CEV in close cooperation with Volleyball World and provide teams from the continent with several opportunities to compete and gain valuable international ranking points.