Beach Volleyball

Warsaw and Leuven up next at the Beach Pro Tour

News

Article Wed, Jul 20 2022
Author: Guilherme Torres

After three consecutive weeks in Italy, the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour is set to change destinations, but will remain in Europe, with double-gender Futures tournaments set to take place in Warsaw, Poland, and Leuven, Belgium, between Thursday and Sunday.

Szalankiewicz and partner Florczyk will try to repeat their Bialystok victory in Warsaw

The Polish capital will be the second city in the country to host a Beach Pro Tour Futures event, joining Bialystok, which was the stage of a tournament less than a month ago. A total of 56 teams (half in each gender) from 24 countries will compete for the titles at the traditional Monta Beach Volleyball Club.

Hosts Poland (9 teams), Lithuania (6), the Czech Republic (4), Norway (4), Latvia (3), Austria (2), England (2), Finland (2), Germany (2), Italy (2), the Netherlands (2), Slovakia (2), Sweden (2), Switzerland (2), Bulgaria (1), Cyprus (1), Estonia (1), Greece (1), Israel (1), Spain (1) and Ukraine (1) will be European nations represented in the tournament.

The winners of the Futures men’s tournament in Bialystok, Polish Jakub Szalankiewicz and Mateus Florczyk will try to win gold in front of their home fans again. They are likely to be challenged by the Czech teams of Robert Kufa/Adam Waber and Vaclav Bercik/Matyas Dzavoronok and the Lithuanian pairing of Robert Juchnevic and Artur Vasiljev, who took bronze in that same event.

Khmil and Lazarenko won the #EuroBeachVolleyU20 last week in Türkiye

In the women’s tournament, recently-crowned U20 European champions and reigning U21 world champions Anhelina Khmil and Tetiana Lazarenko stand out as the favorites. Latvian Deniela Konstantinova, who they faced in the continental final in Izmir last week, and partner Varvara Brailko will also be in contention, as will the home team of Katarzyna Kociolek and Marta Lodej.

In Leuven, the first Belgian city to host the Beach Pro Tour, the event will take place at the Monseigneur Ladeuzeplein and will have as many as 25 countries represented among the 56 (28 men’s and 28 women’s) entered duos.

European beach volleyball will be represented by hosts Belgium (11 teams), the Netherlands (5), Germany (3), Spain (3), Ukraine (3), England (2), Scotland (2), the Czech Republic (1), Finland (1), France (1), Greece (1), Latvia (1), Lithuania (1), Norway (1), Slovakia (1), Sweden (1) and Switzerland (1).

One of the attractions of the Leuven event will be the return to the courts of Dries Koekelkoren and Tom van Walle, who won an FIVB World Tour one-star event in the city last year. The two formed the top Belgian team for the last seven years, but retired after the 2021 #EuroBeachVolley. They will take a break on retirement to pair with 18-year-olds Kyan Vercauteren and Jelle De Hert respectively and get the two started at the international level.

Van Walle and Koekelkoren in action during last year's #EuroBeachVolley

The women’s tournament in Belgium will also have a Ukrainian team among the favorites in Valentyna Davidova and Diana Lunina, who are fresh from a main draw appearance in a Beach Pro Tour Challenge event in Espinho and are set to represent their country at this year’s #EuroBeachVolley next month.

Both events start on Thursday with a 16-team qualifier in each gender which will determine the last four teams guaranteed in the main draw. The medal matches will be played on Sunday.

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