Italians claim five medals at home in Corigliano Rossano
Futures in Europe
Italy made it to the top of the podium on both genders in the last of the four Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Futures events held in their homesand in 2024 on Sunday, when duos from the host country took gold in Corigliano Rossano—the weekend also had an Austrian duo coming out on top of the men’s tournament held in Warsaw.
Italian beach volleyball had a lot to celebrate on Sunday at the beachfront Lungomare as teams from the host country claimed five out of the six medals in play in the event, with a duo from Latvia earning the remaining spot on the podium. In Warsaw, Austria, Sweden and England took medals home, completing a perfect weekend for European beach volleyball.
Fresh from an excellent ninth-place finish at the 2024 CEV EuroBeachVolley a few weeks ago, 22-year-old Giada Bianchi and 25-year-old Reka Orsi Toth celebrated the first international victory in their careers, while also leading an all-Italian women's podium in Corigliano Rossano.
The two lost one of their six matches over the week, but were able to get revenge for it, as they met qualifiers Eleonora Sestini and Erika Ditta, who had upset them in pool play, in the gold medal match, prevailing in straight sets (21-17, 25-23) this time.
Also coming from the qualifier, Jessica Allegretti and Valentina Cali completed the Italian medal sweep in Corigliano Rossano with their three-set (21-15, 20-22, 15-10) victory over Latvians Marta Ozolina and Luize Skrastina in the bronze medal match.
Beach Pro Tour Corigliano Rossano Futures
The men’s final had 23-year-old Gianluca Dal Corso and Marco Viscovich winning at home for the second time this season as after topping the podium in Cervia in May, they did it again on Sunday, beating Latvians Mihails Samoilovs and Arnis Relins in straight sets (21-14, 22-20) in the gold medal match.
Tobia Marchetto and Jakob Windisch, who had won gold in Corigliano Rossano last year, returned to the podium in 2024 thanks to their two-set (24-22, 21-17) victory over Argentinean Olympian Julian Azaad and his partner Ramiro Sancer in the bronze medal match.
Leitner and Pascariuc triumph in Warsaw
Only the men were in action this week in Warsaw and Austrians Laurenz Leitner and Paul Pascariuc stood above their competitors to win their second title as partners – they also took gold in El-Alamein, Egypt, last year.
On Sunday, the 24-year-old Austrians came from behind to down Swedish qualifiers Anton Andersson and Stefan Andreasson, who were playing on the Beach Pro Tour for just the fourth time in their careers, 2-1 (13-21, 21-15, 15-13) and take the title.
English Issa Batrane and Frederick Bialokoz, who won gold last weekend in Halifax, Canada, this time took bronze, overcoming Lithuanians Robert Juchnevic and Artur Vasiljev in the tie-breaker (21-16, 19-21, 15-12) in the match that decided third place in the event.
Next week, the women will get to play in Warsaw, competing at the Plaza Wilanow from Thursday 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 international ranking points.