Lithuania is the next Beach Pro Tour destination in Europe

The Lithuanian city of Klaipeda is set to be introduced to international beach volleyball this week, when it will play host to a Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Future tournament between Thursday and Sunday.

The fourth European city to host a tournament of this level in the Beach Pro Tour inaugural season – joining the Spanish capital Madrid, the Greek island of Rhodes and the Italian coastal town of Cervia -, Klaipeda will be just the second in the country to receive the international stars of the sport.

In 2020, the country’s capital Vilnius hosted a double-gender FIVB World Tour one-star event. The city had also welcomed European events (Under age and senior) in 2011, 2013, 2016 and 2017.

The sand courts have been set at the popular and picturesque Theatre Square, located in old Klaipeda and just a few steps away from both the Baltic Sea and the Akmena-Dane river.

The 56-team tournament will reunite duos from 26 different countries, 19 of which from Europe – Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Serbia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey.

Austrian veteran Alexander Horst is arguably the most popular name among the 112 players entered to compete in Klaipeda this week. A three-time Olympian and a silver medalist at the 2017 World Championship, he’s in the early stages of a new partnership with Julian Hörl and the team has recently finished fourth in a Futures tournament in Songkhla, Thailand.

Horst and Hörl are seeded third in the men’s main draw, behind New Zealand’s Thomas Reid/Ben O’Dea and Finland’s Jyrki Nurminen/Santeri Siren, the bronze medalists of the Futures event in Rhodes.

Hosts Lithuania, with four teams, the Czech Republic, with two, and Israel and Poland, with one duo each, are the other European nations guaranteed in the main draw of the men’s tournament.

In the women’s event, the top three spots in the main draw are occupied by European teams in Austrian sisters Dorina and Ronja Klinger, the home duo of Ieva Dumbauskaite and Gerda Grudzinskaite and Slovenians Tjasa Kotnik and Tajda Lovsin.

Hosts Lithuania have three other teams guaranteed in the main draw, while Israel, Finland, Poland and Estonia will also be represented among the top 12 teams.

The four-day event starts on Thursday with 16-team qualifiers in both genders, from which four teams will emerge to the main draw.