Cools and Van Den Vonder claim gold in Mallorca
Futures in Europe
The last Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Futures women’s event held in Europe in 2023 had a proper conclusion on Sunday as three teams from the continent earned medals in Mallorca.
With Belgium’s Sarah Cools/Lisa Van Den Vonder in first place, Spain’s Nazaret Florian/Aina Munar finishing second and Italy’s Federica Frasca/Alice Gradini taking third, the Mallorca Futures proved to be pretty productive for European duos that played in the Spanish island for the last five days.
The champions, the 26-year-old Cools and the 25-year-old Van Der Vonder were indeed in action for five days as they started their campaign in the event on the qualifier, on Wednesday, and won seven of their eight matches at the Hotel & Sport Center Na Taconera to take the title on Sunday.
In order to confirm their first victory as partners as the international level, the Belgians had to overcome Spanish Florian and Munar and the home fans, securing a straight-set (22-20, 21-14) victory on Sunday.
Beach Pro Tour Mallorca Futures
The all-European podium in Mallorca was confirmed an hour earlier, when Frasca and Gradini topped China’s Lingdi Zhu and Shuting Cao by forfeit and took bronze, their first Beach Pro Tour medal as partners.
After the women, next week the men will get on the court in Mallorca to play in the last Futures event held in Europe this season, competing from Wednesday 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 ranking points during the Olympic qualification period for the Paris 2024 Games.