Türkiye and Hungary claim the last golds of the season in Balıkesir

Türkiye and Hungary were the last countries to take gold in a Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Futures event held in Europe in 2025 after prevailing in the last tournament of this category held in the continent, which ended on Sunday in the Turkish city of Balıkesir.

The Balıkesir Futures saw Yusuf Özdemir and Batuhan Kuru take the host country to the top of the podium at the Ayvalik Sarismakli Plaji on the men’s event, while Stefánia Flóra Kun and Lilla Villám led Hungary to victory among the women. Duos from Czechia, Finland, Latvia and Ukraine also collected medals.

Özdemir and Kuru won their first gold on the Beach Pro Tour as partners on a special occasion, triumphing in front of their home fans and producing a strong result for Turkish beach volleyball.

Partners since the 2024 season, the Turks overcame Latvians Ardis Bedritis and Arturs Rinkevics in an exciting three-set battle, coming back to prevail 2-1 (17-21, 21-14, 16-14) and claim gold.

Beach Pro Tour Balıkesir Futures – Men

Bronze was won by Ukrainians Oleksii Bublyk and Ivan Datsiuk, who capped off an incredible campaign that started on Thursday’s qualifier with a two-set (21-18, 21-9) victory over Latvians Olivers Bulgacs and Markuss Graudins, who had also been playing since Thursday in Balıkesir.

The women’s champions Kun and Villám won gold for the first time together in their ninth event as partners. The Hungarians were in excellent form throughout the week in Türkiye, winning all their five matches while dropping only one set.

In the gold medal match, they produced their fourth sweep in five matches in Balıkesir, beating Czechs   Anna Pospisilova and  Michaela Brinkova in straight sets (21-18, 21-18) to claim the top spot on the podium.

Beach Pro Tour Balıkesir Futures – Women

Finland’s Sara Sinisalo and Anniina Muukka completed the podium in third place after starting the tournament in the qualifier. They won bronze thanks to a tight two-set (21-19, 27-25) victory over Germans Sophia Neuss and Mareet Maidhof.

The Balıkesir Futures was the last of the 25 events that happened between May and September in Europe. In 2025, 15 different European countries hosted events of this category.

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.