Challenge - Bhubaneswar, IND - 2026

High seeds upset in Bhubaneswar Challenge women’s pool finals

Three duos from Japan, two from USA and one each from China, Romania and Ukraine book direct tickets to the eighthfinals in India

Published 05:17, 05 Mar 2026

19-year-old Ukrainian beach volleyballer Sofiia Kurnikova

The first Challenge stop on the 2026 Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour served off in Bhubaneswar, India with the women’s pool stage, both legs of which were held on Thursday. The first competition day offered plenty of upsets, especially in the pool finals, where at stake were the direct tickets to the eighthfinals, so many of the high seeds finished pool runners-up and will have to go through the sixteenthfinal round of direct eliminations.

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Ukraine’s Yeva Serdiuk & Sofiia Kurnikova created the biggest surprise of the day by overcoming the top-seeded pairing of 2023 world champion Sara Hughes with Allysa Batenhorst of the United States. After sweeping their first Pool A match against Australia’s Kayla Mears & Tara Phillips, the 17^th-seeded Europeans came back from a set down against Hughes & Batenhorst to celebrate a 2-1 (13-21, 21-14, 15-10) victory and advancement to the second knockout round. 19-year-old Kurnikova led the way with a match-high 22 points, including three kill blocks and two serving aces.

Hughes/Batenhorst vs. Serdiuk/Kurnikova - Women’s BPT Challenge Bhubaneswar 2025

In the Pool D final, USA’s Natalie Myszkowski & Carly Kan, seeded 13^th, took out fourth-seeded Ana Vergara & Sofia Gonzalez of Spain in straight sets, 2-0 (21-18, 26-24), contributing a match-high 19 points each. Myszkowski’s tally included four aces.

Fifth-seeded Annique Niederhauser & Menia Bentele of Switzerland were stunned by 12^th-seeded Sakura Ito & Mayu Sawame of Japan in a three-set 2-1 (21-15, 12-21, 15-10) Pool E final, while the highest-ranked representatives of the host nation India, eighth-seeded Sasikala Veerapathiran & Kanimozhi Lakshmanan, suffered a 2-0 (21-10, 21-3) shutout at the hands of ninth-seeded Americans Alexis Durish & Audrey Koenig in Pool H.

The showdown for the first place in Pool G produced an exciting three-set battle between former teammates – Romania’s Beata Vaida and Hungary’s Lilla Villam – who have played together at national tour events in their countries. Seventh-seeded Romanians Beata Vaida & Francesca Alupei, who won gold at last month’s Mount Maunganui Futures in New Zealand, managed a 2-1 (19-21, 21-12, 15-12) win over 10^th-seeded Hungarians Lilla Villam & Stefania Kun. Alupei led the way with seven kill blocks towards a match-high 30 points.

Vaida/Alupei vs. Kun/Villám - Women’s BPT Challenge Bhubaneswar 2025

Second-seeded Asami Shiba & Reika Murakami and sixth-seeded Ren Matsumoto & Non Matsumoto of Japan lived up to their status and topped the final standings in Pools B and F, respectively. So did third-seeded Yan Xu & Xia Xinyi in Pool C, where they mastered a 2-0 (21-16, 21-19) sweep of the all-Chinese pool final against Jiang Kaiyue & Dong Jie.