Italians win home gold at Lecce Futures
News
The celebration was complete for the Italian fans who attended this week’s Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Lecce Futures as teams from the host country stepped at the top of the podium on both genders at the conclusion of the event on Sunday.
The victories of top-seeded Margherita Bianchin/Claudia Scampoli in the women’s tournament and Davide Benzi/Carlo Bonifazi in the men’s event brought to an end a week of exciting competition at the Spiaggia Molo Adriano.
Bianchin, 27, and Scampoli, 23, secured their fourth international title as partners on Sunday, adding to FIVB World Tour victories in Vilnius, in 2020, and Sofia, in 2021, and to their triumph at last year’s Giardini Naxos Futures.
The Italians went undefeated during the week in Lecce, winning all their five matches to secure the title. They were pushed by Polish Katarzyna Kociolek and Marta Lodej in the gold medal match, but came from behind to triumph 2-1 (19-21, 21-19, 15-10) and take the title.
Argentineans Maia Najul and Cecilia Peralta, who had finished third in Lecce last year, repeated the result, claiming another bronze medal in the city. The second-seeded South Americans prevailed over Canadians Darby Dunn and Olivia Furlan in straight sets (25-23, 21-17) to secure another podium appearance in Lecce.
The men’s winners Benzi, 29, and Bonifazi, 30, got to celebrate their second Beach Pro Tour victory this week and their first at home – they had topped the podium at the Songkhla Futures, in Thailand, last year.
In the gold medal match in Lecce, the Italians dominated Czechs Krystof Oliva and Tadeas Trousil to a straight-set (21-15, 21-16) victory in front of their home fans. The home team dropped just one set in their campaign of five victories in Lecce.
Hosts Italy were one win away from claiming a second medal in the men’s event, but last year’s winner Gianluca Dal Corso and his new partner Marco Viscovich fell to Chinese Likejiang Ha and Jiaxin Wu in the two-set (21-17, 21-19) bronze medal match and finished fourth.
Next week, the Beach Pro Tour Futures will head to France, with the city of Lille hosting a double-gender event 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 ranking points during the Olympic qualification period for the Paris 2024 Games.