Futures - Budapest, HUN - 2026

Ukraine’s Likhatskyis and Hungary’s Kun & Villam snatch Budapest Futures trophies

Silver for Bulgaria and Norway, bronze for Ukraine and Lithuania

Published 04:37, 06 Sept 2026

Hungary’s Lilla Villam in action (photo: cev.eu)

Ukraine’s Ivan Likhatskyi & Richard Likhatskyi and Hungary’s Stefania Kun & Lilla Villam triumphed on top of the men’s and women’s podiums at the Budapest Futures on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour on Sunday. Dimitar Mehandzhiyski & Dimitar Kalchev of Bulgaria and Sergiy Popov & Illia Tiurin of Ukraine completed the men’s podium, while Nina Pavlova & Sunniva Helland-Hansen of Norway and Skalve Krizanauskaite & Rugile Grudzinskaite of Lithuania finished first and second runners-up on the women’s side.

The 2026 Budapest Futures men’s podium (photo: cev.eu)

Ivan Likhatskyi & Richard Likhatskyi celebrated their first Beach Pro Tour gold, which they added to a collection of two bronze medals as a team. The ninth-seeded Ukrainians started off in Budapest with a loss to Dimitar Mehandzhiyski & Dimitar Kalchev in their opening pool match, but then went on a five-match winning streak crowned with a 2-0 (21-10, 21-13) sweep of the final against the very same Bulgarians. Before that, in the semifinals, the Likhatskyis squeezed out a nail-biting 2-1 (21-15, 24-26, 17-15) victory over fellow Ukrainians Sergiy Popov & Illia Tiurin.

In the other semifinal, eighth-seeded Mehandzhiyski & Kalchev shaped up a four-game winning streak that led them to the final with a tight 2-0 (23-21, 21-19) straight-setter against fifth-seeded Austrians Michael Mario Klemen & Elias Holzinger. The silver medal earned was Bulgaria’s best ever achievement on the Beach Pro Tour. The only previous medal the southern European country had was last year’s Sveti Vlas Futures bronze Mehandzhiyski & Kalchev achieved on home sand.

Two teams that emerged from the qualifications met in the third-place playoff. 10^th-seeded Popov & Tiurin beat Klemen & Holzinger by 2-0 (22-20, 21-10) to decorate Tiurin’s Beach Pro Tour debut in bronze.

The 2026 Budapest Futures women’s podium (photo: cev.eu)

Hungary’s Lilla Villam and 20-year-old Stefania Kun earned their second Beach Pro Tour gold, after last year’s triumph at the Balikesir Futures, and their fourth podium. They won all five of their matches in front of the home fans in Budapest. On Sunday, the top-seeded home favorites squeezed out a nail-biting 2-1 (18-21, 25-23, 18-16) semifinal win over fourth-seeded Clara Windeleff & Astrid Mellmolle of Denmark, and followed up with a 2-0 (21-17, 21-11) sweep of the gold medal match against third-seeded Nina Pavlova & Sunniva Helland-Hansen of Norway.

In their semifinal, the Norwegian duo produced a 2-0 (21-16, 21-14) shutout of Lithuanian qualifiers Skalve Krizanauskaite & Rugile Grudzinskaite to secure their second Beach Pro Tour medal. The first one was also silver.

Krizanauskaite & Grudzinskaite crowned their Beach Pro Tour debut as a team with bronze, starting from the qualifications and going through the tournament on a 6-1 win-loss record. They bounced back from their semifinal defeat with a 2-0 (21-19, 21-13) victory over Windeleff & Mellmolle in the third-place game.