Lithuania rely on Olympians Paulikiene and Raupelyte in Vilnius
Beach Nations Cup
The first players to represent Lithuania at the Olympics in beach volleyball, Monika Paulikiene and Aine Raupelyte are the main hopes of the nation at this weekend’s 2025 CEV Beach Volley Nations Cup Preliminary Phase pool held in the country’s capital Vilnius.
Eight different national teams will be looking for the last spots in the Finals of the Beach Nations Cup, an exciting ‘country vs country’ competition introduced in 2022, which resembles the Davis Cup in tennis, this week at the White Bridge Beach Volleyball Courts.
The event will have hosts Lithuania, Croatia, Finland and Norway competing in women’s Pool B and hosts Lithuania, Bulgaria, Poland and Slovenia appearing in men’s Pool D from Saturday to Sunday. The winners in each gender will qualify for the Finals, which are going to be held in Espinho, Portugal, from July 17-20.
Paulikiene and Raupelyte, who represented Lithuania at the Paris Olympics less than a year ago, will be pivotal in the country’s push to make it to the Finals this week in Vilnius. The two will have Ariana Rudkovskaja and Skalve Krizanauskaite by their side this week in the country’s capital.
Finland will also have their top players in action this week in Pool B. Representing the country in Vilnius will be Niina Ahtiainen/Taru Lahti and Anniina Parkkinen/Valma Prihti.
CEV Beach Nations Cup – Women’s Pool B
Norway will have Ingrid Tunby-Lunde/Emilie Olimstad and Julia Moi Tennøy/Solveig Gladsøy Sunde representing the country, while Lea Rasic/Ana Sverko and Lucijana Terze/Mirna Becic will play for Croatia in Vilnius.
On the men’s side, Lithuania will have Arnas Rumsevicius/Karolis Palubinskas and Artur Vasiljev/Robert Juchnevic trying to qualify the country for the Finals in front of their home fans.
One of the most successful nations in Europe in men’s beach volleyball, Poland will be represented by Szymon Beta/Szymon Pietraszek and Aleksander Czachorowski/Jakub Krzeminski.
CEV Beach Nations Cup – Men’s Pool D
Slovenia will have Crtomir Bošnjak/Jaka Jevšnik and Miha Kosanc/Benjamin Mugerli playing for them in Vilnius, while Dimitar Mehandzhiyski/Dimitar Kalchev and Zahari Zgurov/Georgi Antov will represent Bulgaria in the event.