Beach Pro Tour News And Updates | Volleyball World

Poland’s Jagoda Gruszczynska & Aleksandra Wachowicz - Ola at Madrid Futures 2024 (source: cev.eu)

Poland’s Jagoda Gruszczynska & Aleksandra Wachowicz - Ola at Madrid Futures 2024 (source: cev.eu)

Poland’s Jagoda Gruszczynska & Aleksandra Wachowicz - Ola achieved their first-ever gold on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour. On Sunday evening, they topped the podium at the women’s Madrid Futures in Spain. They were accompanied by runners-up Valentyna Davidova & Anhelina Khmil of Ukraine and Sarah Cools & Lisa Van Den Vonder of Belgium.

After winning a Futures bronze at Bialystok 2022 and a Futures silver at Warsaw 2023, Gruszczynska & Ola finally celebrated a Futures gold at Madrid 2024, their first Beach Pro Tour medal earned outside Poland. They lost only one set in the five matches of their campaign in the Spanish capital, in their pool winners’ match against Czechia’s Marketa Slukova & Karin Zolnercikova. In the semifinals, the second-seeded Poles hammered out a 2-0 (21-12, 21-12) shutout of the ninth-seeded Latvian pairing of 16-year-old Liva Ebere and 18-year-old Deniela Konstantinova. In the gold medal showdown, Gruszczynska & Ola mastered another emphatic straight-setter, 2-0 (21-14, 21-13) against 13th-seeded Ukrainian qualifiers Davidova & Khmil.

Gruszczynska & Ola in action (source: cev.eu)

Gruszczynska & Ola in action (source: cev.eu)

The newly formed Ukrainian pair took the silver to decorate their international debut with a medal. Entering the tournament as the third-seeded team in the qualification bracket, they lined up six wins in a row, crowned by a 2-0 (22-20, 21-17) victory over Cools & Van Den Vonder in the semifinals.

The fourth-seeded Belgian duo bounced back with a 2-0 (21-16, 21-15) sweep of the third place match against the young Latvians. Having collected four podiums on the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour, Cools & Van Den Vonder now earned their third Beach Pro Tour medal and their second in a row, after the Mallorca Futures gold they grabbed also in Spain last October.

The women’s Madrid Futures 2024 podium (source: cev.eu)

The women’s Madrid Futures 2024 podium (source: cev.eu)

28 pairs representing 19 different countries took part in the women’s Madrid Futures. This week’s Beach Pro Tour schedule offers a Futures event in Battipaglia, Italy, from May 23 to 26, while an Elite16 event in Espinho, Portugal takes place from May 22 to 26.