Bianchin/Scampoli and Dal Corso/Viscovich take home golds in Cervia
Futures in Europe
Italian teams were on fire this weekend on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour, winning three of the eight medals collected by European duos in Futures events held in the continent, in their home sand Cervia and the Spanish capital Madrid.
The second weekend of Futures events in Europe was hugely successful for teams from the continent, who took eight of the nine podium spots across both events, claiming three golds, two silver and three bronze medals – duos from Italy, Germany, France, Poland, Ukraine and Belgium returned home with silverware.
Margherita Bianchin, 28, and Claudia Scampoli, 24, dominated the women’s tournament of the double-gender event held at the Fantini Club in Cervia, securing their fourth victory in Beach Pro Tour Futures events held in Italy over the last two years.
Undefeated in their five matches in the tournament, they topped Paraguayans Michelle Valiente and Giuliana Poletti in the two-set (21-19, 21-19) gold medal match to take the title. The bronze medal match in Cervia also had the victory of an Italian duo over an international opponent, with Reka Orsi Toth and Giada Bianchi beating Australians Jasmine Fleming and Jana Milutinovic in the tie-breaker (21-17, 18-21, 15-12) to make it to the podium for the second time in four international events as partners.
The men’s events in Cervia saw the first title of 23-year-old Gianluca Dal Corso and 22-year-old Marco Viscovich as partners on the Beach Pro Tour after they capped off a campaign of five victories with a sweep (21-17, 21-11) of Germans Paul Henning and Bennet Poniewaz in the final.
The French brothers Quincy and Calvin Aye completed the podium after they topped Swiss Julian Friedli and Yves Haussener in two sets (24-22, 21-19) in the bronze medal match.
Polish triumph in Madrid
The Spanish capital Madrid hosted a women-only event, following last week’s men’s competition, and, as was the case seven days ago, European duos occupied all three spots on the podium.
The title went to Polish Jagoda Gruszczynska, 29, and Aleksandra Ola, 31, who went undefeated during the three days of action and produced a two-set (21-14, 21-13) win over Ukrainians Valentyna Davidova and Anhelina Khmil in the final.
The all-European bronze medal match at the Parque Deportivo Puerta de Hierro had Belgians Sarah Cools and Lisa Van Den Vonder prevailing over Latvians Līva Ēbere and Deniela Konstantinova in straight sets (21-16, 21-15).
Europe will host another double-gender Futures event next week, with the Italian city of Battipaglia welcoming the competition from Thursday to 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.