Teams from ten countries win medals in busy weekend

Beach volleyball teams from ten different European countries returned home with Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour medals after a busy weekend, which had three Futures events taking place in the region simultaneously.

Austria, Bulgaria, Czechia, Denmark, Israel, the Netherlands, Poland, Serbia, Spain and Ukraine were the nations that succeeded over the weekend, which featured a pair of double-gender tournaments and one men’s event.

Czechia, which hosted one of the double-genders in the country’s capital Prague, was by far the most successful nation this weekend, collecting five medals, all in front of their home fans.

The host country produced a full medal sweep in the women’s event, taking all three spots on the podium. The gold medal match, which had two teams from the country, ended with the Pavelková twins Katerina and Anna defeating the top Czech team of Marie-Sára Štochlová and Marketa Svozilova in the tie-breaker (22-20, 17-21, 15-13).

Beach Pro Tour Prague Futures – Women

Martina Maixnerova and Kylie Neuschaeferova defeated Polish Marta Lodej and Julia Kielak also in three sets (19-21, 21-12, 15-8) to confirm the all-Czech podium.

The men’s event could also have had a local winner, but Dutch Leon Luini and Mees Sengers spoiled the party of the home fans by downing top-seeded Czechs Jakub Sepka and Jiri Sedlak in the two-set (21-16, 21-18) gold medal match.

Beach Pro Tour Prague Futures – Men

The host country sent a second team to the podium in Prague as Tadeas Trousil and Matyas Dzavoronok prevailed over Belgian brothers Gilles and Louis Vandecaveye in two sets (21-19, 21-15) to take bronze.

Ukrainians make the double in Sveti Vlas

The double-gender tournament held in the Bulgarian city of Sveti Vlas also had two teams from the same country meeting in the women’s gold medal match. There, the final had two Ukrainian duos and had Yeva Serdiuk and Daria Romaniuk upsetting the top-seeded Valentyna Davidova and Anhelina Khmil in straight sets (21-12, 21-19) to claim the title.

Beach Pro Tour Sveti Vlas Futures – Women

Spain took bronze with Sofía Izuzquiza and Ana Vergara, who triumphed in the tie-breaker (21-18, 18-21, 15-10) over Germans Sarah Schulz and Josefine Schäkel to secure the last spot on the podium.

The men’s podium, on the other hand, was occupied by teams from three different countries. Austria took the top spot after Laurenc Grössig and Mathias Seiser got the better of Serbians Djordje Klasnic and Marko Makaric, winning the gold medal match 2-0 (21-14, 21-10).

Beach Pro Tour Sveti Vlas Futures – Men

Host country Bulgaria made it to the podium in third place with Dimitar Mehandzhiyski and Dimitar Kalchev, who upset Italians Tiziano Andreatta and Davide Benzi with a three-set (23-21, 17-21, 15-12) victory in the bronze medal match.

Israelis win in Kraków

In Kraków, where only the men played, hosts Poland were just one win away from taking the title as top-seeded Jedrzej Brozyniak and Piotr Janiak advanced all the way to the gold medal match, but were stopped by Israelis Eylon Elazar and Kevin Cuzmiciov, who ranked first with a two-set (30-28, 21-14) victory.

Beach Pro Tour Krakow Futures – Men

Denmark’s Mads Møllgaard and Nicolai Hovmann completed the podium in third place after they topped Germans Tamo Wüst and Tristan Fröbel 2-1 (21-12, 18-21, 17-15) in the dispute for bronze.

Next week, the women will play in Kraków from Thursday to Sunday. On the same days, a men’s event will be held in Malmö, Switzerland, and a double-gender tournament will take place in Jurmala, Latvia.

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.