Italians and Dutch claim Cervia Futures titles
News
European beach volleyball powerhouses Italy and the Netherlands dominated this week’s Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Futures event in Cervia with veterans Fabrizio Manni and Francesco Vanni winning the men’s tournament in front of their home fans and Dutch youngsters Mexime van Driel and Emma Piersma taking the women’s title.
One of the eight European nations to have won medals at the Olympics, Italy celebrated the victory of the 35-year-old Manni and Vanni in the first double-gender Futures tournament of the season at the traditional Fantini Club, which is located right by the Adriatic Sea in the East Coast of the country.
Manni and Vanni, who were playing in a tournament as partners for the first time in their careers, made good use of their homecourt advantage and won five of their six matches in Cervia to stand at the top of the podium. The last of them was a two-set (21-19, 21-12) victory against Australians Zachery Schubert and Thomas Hodges in the gold medal match.
Israelis Netanel Ohana and Eylon Elazar claimed their second international medal as partners by taking bronze after they defeated Swiss Jonathan Jordan and Immanuel Zürcher in the tie-breaker (18-21, 21-15, 15-4).
In the women’s tournament, the 23-year-old van Driel and the 21-year-old Piersma overcame tough competition, which included two Olympians, to secure their first title as partners. The Dutch, who joined forces ahead of the 2022 season, triumphed in their fifth tournament as partners by topping Swiss qualifiers Menia Bentele and Anna Lutz in straight sets (21-16, 21-15) in the gold medal match in Cervia.
Emma Piersma“This is our first season as partners. We had played in some Challenge events before, but this was our first Futures. We came here to do the best we could and I’m glad that we got to play very well.”
Dutch Beach Volleyball Player
The bronze medal match at the Fantini Club opposed longtime Italian partners Viktoria Orsi Toth and Marta Menegatti for the first time since their split and the 31-year-old blocker came out on top, joining forces with her younger sister Reka Orsi Toth to defeat the three-time Olympian defender and new partner Valentina Gottardi 2-0 (22-20, 21-17).
The Beach Pro Tour will continue in Europe for another week, with a fourth-straight Futures tournament set to take place in Klaipeda, Lithuania from June 2-5.