France and Italy top their pools in Budapest
Nations Cup
French men and Italian women claimed the last spots in the 2023 CEV Beach Volleyball Nations Cup Finals after their national teams triumphed in their pools this weekend in Budapest, Hungary, in the last stop of the event’s Preliminary Phase.
With their victory in Pool G among the men, France will join Switzerland, Austria, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden and Norway in the Finals. Italy, who topped Pool D, will compete against the Netherlands, Poland, Latvia, Switzerland, France and Germany among the women. The final berths in each gender will be allocated to the host country, which will be announced in the future.
The French team formed by Beach Pro Tour veterans Youssef Krou and Arnaud Gauthier-Rat and the Aye brothers Quincy and Calvin put on strong performances over the weekend in Budapest, winning all their six matches.
In the final, on Sunday, they faced a surprising Hungarian team, which they had defeated in their opening duel, on Saturday. The home team stepped up and took both matches to three sets, but France ended up prevailing on both, with the Aye brothers topping Csanád Petik/Domonkos Dóczi 2-1 (29-27, 19-21, 15-11) and Krou and Gauthier-Rat also overcoming Artúr Hajós/Bence Stréli in the tie-breaker (21-16, 19-21, 15-10).
Italy’s victory among the women had a little bit more drama as the country’s national team started behind in the final against Austria and needed a golden set to secure the top spot.
The temporary team of Katharina Schützenhöfer and Franziska Friedl defeated Chiara They and Sofia Arcaini in the tie-breaker (21-17, 24-26, 15-10) and gave Austria an early lead in the final, but the Italian top team of Marta Menegatti and Valentina Gottardi stepped up to take their nation to the top.
The two overcame Ronja and Dorina Klinger in two sets (21-17, 21-13) in their encounter and faced the Austrian sisters in the golden set too, coming up on top with a 15-12 win. The Italians had also won a golden set against England in the first round and helped their country top Hungary in the semifinals.
Created in 2022, the Nations Cup brings added weight in 2023 and 2024, serving as the European pathway in the qualification system for the beach volleyball tournament of the Paris 2024 Olympics – the countries that win the 2024 Finals among the men and the women will each earn a spot in the Games.
The event has a different competition format, promoting ‘country vs. country’ battles. Each nation is represented by two teams and the duels take place in a best-of-three format, with the decider, if needed, being a 15-point golden set.