Beach Pro Tour back to Italy this week in Corigliano Rossano

The Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour is back in Italy after two months as the country prepares to host the third Futures tournament of the season, which will be played in Corigliano Rossano this week, from Thursday to Sunday.

Following successful events in Lecce, in June, and Messina, at the start of July, the city located in the Southern region of the country will welcome 60 teams (28 men’s and 22 women’s) from 21 countries for four days of competition at the Lungomare Corigliano Rossano.

Hosts Italy will have 12 teams in action, followed by the Netherlands (5), Hungary (4), Norway (4), Latvia (3), Cameroon (2), Finland (2), Israel (2), Mauritius (2), Switzerland (2), the United States (2), Botswana, Canada, Colombia, Czechia, Estonia, France, Germany, Lithuania, Poland and Spain.

The 22-team women’s tournament will have duos from nine different countries starting the event directly in the main draw. Topping the list are Italians Reka Orsi Toth and Giada Bianchi, who will be playing together internationally for just the third time and took silver in their first event as partners, the Messina Futures.

Also challenging for medals this week in Corigliano Rossano will be second-seeded Finnish Annina Parkkinen and Sara Sinisalo. Arguably the most experienced team in the field, the two have appeared in Challenge events this season.

Completing the top three in the Italian event’s entry list are French Elsa Decamps and Anouk Dupin, who will be playing together for the first time at the international level.

Also beginning the event in the main draw will be Lithuania’s Ieva Dumbauskaite/Skalve Krizanauskaite, Czechia’s Valerie Dvorníková/Anna Popisilova, Estonia’s Heleene Hollas/Liisa Remmelg, Italy’s Erika Ditta/Eleonora Sestini, Federica Frasca/Alice Gradini and Maria Mancinelli/Aurora Matavelli, Canada’s Devin Corah/Myriam Robitaille, Poland’s Patrycja Zundzill/Kinga Legieta and USA’s Jessica McGuire/Logan Beitler.

Beach Pro Tour Corigliano Rossano Futures

Among the men, the home team of Gianluca Dal Corso and Marco Viscovish is the highest-seeded in the main draw. The Italians made it to the semifinals of both tournaments held in their home country, finishing fourth in Lecce and third in Messina.

Seeded second are Dutch Dirk Boehlé and Mees Sengers. Partners since 2022, the two took silver on the Beach Pro Tour Futures held in Leuven, Belgium, last month.

Right above them are Latvians Martins Plavins, a London 2012 Olympic bronze medalist, and Kristianas Fokerots, a U18 European champion and U19 world champion in 2022. The two stepped on the podium in their two events as partners, taking gold at the Warsaw Futures and taking bronze in the tournament held in El-Alamein, Egypt, last weekend.

Also guaranteed in the main draw are Italy’s Tobia Marchetto/Jakob Windisch, Mauro Sacripanti/Matteo Cecchini and Andrea Abbiati/Tiziano Andreatta, Israel’s Eylon Elazar/Kevin Cuzmiciov, Botswana’s Sekao Jack/George Chiswaniso, Hungary’s Artúr Hajós/Bence Stréli and Csanád Petik/Domonkos Dóczi, the Netherlands’ Quinten Groenewold/Sam van Der Loo and Finland’s Pekka Piipo/Vili Topio.

Four duos in each gender will advance on Thursday from the qualifier to the main draw, which will begin with pool play on Friday. Three teams per pool will advance to the elimination rounds, which will culminate with Sunday’s medal matches.

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 ranking points during the Olympic qualification period for the Paris 2024 Games.