Beach Pro Tour Futures underway in Leuven

The Belgian city of Leuven is playing host this week to a Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Futures, which started on Thursday with the qualification round. After contesting their matches in rainy conditions, eight teams – four per gender – eventually reached the Main Draw. The local crowd rooted with much passion for the home sides representing Belgium, but the experience of their international opponents ultimately paid dividends. Despite these setbacks, the fans can still look forward to the Main Draw – where plenty of Belgian teams will be taking to the court.

The four teams progressing to the men’s Main Draw are Slovakia’s Lubos Nemec/Marek Jany, Germany’s Philipp Huster/Benedikt Sagstetter, Sweden’s Martin Appelgren/Alexander Herrmann as well as Simon Kulzer/Momme Lorenz of Germany too. Last week, Lorenz claimed the bronze medal at the U20 European Championships held in Izmir together with Hennes Nissen.

Two teams from China – Zhu Lingdi/Wang Fan and Xia Xinyi/Lin Meimei – together with Norway’s Frida Berntsen/Birgitte Maaseide and Japan’s Keiko Urata/Miharu Kashihara will continue their journey in the women’s Main Draw after making it through the qualification round contested on Thursday.