International beach volleyball back in Leuven for a fourth straight year
Futures in Europe
While the top beach volleyball players in the world prepare for the Paris Olympics this week, the ones looking to climb the FIVB World Rankings head to Leuven, Belgium, where a Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Futures event will be held.
The Belgian city is set to host an international beach volleyball event for a fourth straight year, with the City Center staging the men’s and women’s tournaments from Thursday to Sunday.
The women’s event in Leuven will feature 28 teams, representing 18 countries. European nations account for the vast majority of them, with hosts Belgium having five duos, the Netherlands sending three, Czechia, Latvia and Poland featuring two and Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Scotland, Spain and Ukraine fielding one each. Two teams from the United States and one from Australia and Venezuela complete the entry list.
Belgians Sarah Cools and Lisa Van Den Vonder took bronze in Leuven back in 2021 and will try to stand taller on the podium this week. Seeded second in the main draw, the two have been in excellent form this season, winning medals in the two tournaments they played – bronze in Madrid and gold in Baden.
Germans Anna-Lena Grüne and Chenoa Christ, who took silver in the 2021 event held in Leuven, will also be back in the city. Set to start in the qualifier, the two reunited this season and have already won golds in three Futures events, prevailing in Nuvali, Messina and Rakvere.
Also with 28 teams entered, the men’s tournament will be contested by duos from 22 different nations. Belgium will have five teams, Poland and Spain two and Argentina, Australia, Austria, Canada, Czechia, England, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States one each.
German Benedikt Sagstetter is the only player who already won a medal in Leuven that will be back in 2024 – he took silver in 2022 with Philipp Huster and will play with his older brother Jonas this year, starting in the main draw.
The hopes of the home fans will be mostly on the Vandecaveye brothers Louis and Giles, who also begin in the main draw, seeded fifth. The two, who were fourth in Leuven last year, played in two Futures events this season, finishing third in Kraków and fifth in Rakvere.
The men’s and women’s qualifiers will be held on Thursday, with pool play unfolding on Friday. The Round of 12 and quarterfinal rounds will take place on Saturday, with the semifinals and medal matches closing the event on 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.