Reigning world champions headline upcoming Jurmala Futures

Beach Volleyball teams from 24 different countries have registered to participate in the Beach Pro Tour Futures due to take place this week in Jurmala. The reigning world champions Tina Graudiņa and Anastasija Samoilova will be the main favourites in the women’s competition, while several leading domestic pairs will face competition from the U21 world vice-champions Szymon Beta and Artem Besarab of Poland in the men’s draw.

The most anticipated sporting event in Jurmala, a stop of the Beach Pro Tour, will take place on Majori Beach this week from June 10 to 14. The tournament prize fund is 20,000 USD.

Teams from Beach Volleyball powerhouses such as Sweden, Norway, Brazil, Spain, Germany and Poland have registered for participation in the competition. Further visitors are expected from Australia, Uruguay, Canada and the USA, but the home teams will be the most widely represented – currently six men’s and five women’s pairs from Latvia feature in the 24-team Main Draw. The qualification round involves 16 teams in each gender – with eight eventually progressing to the Main Draw. 

Two-time European and reigning world champions Tina Graudiņa and Anastasija Samoilova have always seized the opportunity to play in front of their fans, but they have not managed to win first place in any international competitions on home soil since 2020. Although they were the clear favourites in the Jurmala Futures they contested last year, they suffered losses to compatriots Līva Ēbere and Deniela Konstantinova and Estonia’s Eva Liisa Kuivonen and Liisa-Lotta Jürgenson. Both of these teams will participate in the tournament this year as well.

2023 U18 European champion Marta Carro Marquez de Acuna from Spain, who is playing with Adriana Serrano Ferro this season, is due to compete in Jurmala – as her more experienced compatriots Maria Belen Carro Marquez de Acuna and Paula Soria Gutierrez do as well. They already played on Majori Beach in 2018 and 2020.

In the men’s competition, the highest-seeded Ardis Bedrītis and Arturs Rinkevičs have participated in the qualification round of two Elite 16 tournaments this year and entered the Nayarit Challenge elimination phase in Mexico. 37-year-old Olympian Edgars Točs will compete in Jurmala together with Gustavs Auziņš, a former U19 and U21 world champion – as well as U18 and U20 European champion. 

The 20-year-old Poles Szymon Beta and Artem Besarab, who lost to the Latvians Auzins and Fokerots in the final of the U21 World Championship in 2025, are starting the season with great ambitions. Lithuania’s Audrius Knasas and Povilas Piesina are frequent guests on the sands of Jurmala – a year ago they finished third on Latvian soil. 

Fans will be able to attend the qualification matches on 10 June free of charge. Tickets for the main draw matches, which begin on 11 June, are already available for purchase at Biļešu Paradīze. Jūrmala has been hosting an international Beach Volleyball tournament since 2014, with highlights such as the CEV EuroBeachVolley held there in 2017 and 2020. The 2026 Beach Pro Tour event in Jūrmala is made possible thanks to the support of the Ministry of Education and Science of Latvia, Jūrmala, and the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia (LIAA) plus many more corporate partners. 

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