European women looking for medals in Krakow
Futures in Europe
Krakow is the place to be this weekend for European women’s beach volleyball teams not looking to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympics at the CEV 2024 Beach Nations Cup Finals as the Polish city is set to host a Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Futures event from Thursday to Sunday.
Having the Jan Nowak-Jeziorański Square, which hosted last week’s men’s tournament, as the venue, this week’s women-only tournament will feature 28 teams from 15 different countries.
Europe will have a large representation in the event, with five duos from hosts Poland, four from Czechia, three from Sweden, two from Germany and Lithuania and one from each of Austria, Estonia, Israel, the Netherlands, Slovakia and Switzerland, which will try to repeat the success of the men, who took home all three medals in play. Completing the lineup are two teams from Australia and the United States and one from each of Canada and Mauritius.
Beach Pro Tour Krakow Futures – Women
Four of the five Polish duos entered in the Krakow Futures start the tournament in the main draw, including reigning U20 European champions Malgorzata Ciezkowska and Urszula Lunio, who took silver at the U22 European Championships last weekend. Also guaranteed in the main draw are Marta Lodej/Julia Kielak, Kinga Legieta/Patrycja Jundzill and Melania Marcinowska/Maja Kruczek.
Seeded third and fourth respectively, Germany’s Anna-Lena Grüne/Chenoa Christ and Austria’s Franziska Friedl/Anja Trailovic are the highest-ranked European duos in the tournament. Two other teams from the continent won’t have to play in the qualifier – Lithuania’s Gerda Grudzinskaite/Rugile Grudzinskaite and the Netherlands’ Mila Konink/Desy Poiesz.
Among the top international players entered in the event are American Olympic Brooke Sweat, who’s seeded fifth with compatriot Kennedy Coakley, and two Australian duos who rank first and second – Jasmine Fleming/Jana Milutinovic and Stefanie Fejes/Georgia Johnson.
The tournament begins on Thursday, with the 16 teams entered in the qualifier fighting for four spots in the main draw. With 16 teams, main draw action starts on Friday with pool play, continues on Saturday with the elimination rounds and concludes on Sunday with the semifinals and 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 international ranking points.