Five of the six medals at the Corigliano Rossano Futures on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour went to home teams from Italy. Reka Orsi Toth & Giada Bianchi, Eleonora Sestini & Erika Ditta and Valentina Cali & Jessica Allegretti lined up on the women’s podium, while Latvia’s Mihails Samoilovs & Arnis Relins squeezed in between gold medallists Gianluca Dal Corso & Marco Viscovich and bronze medallists Tobia Marchetto & Jakob Windisch on the men’s podium.
25-year-old Reka Orsi Toth and 22-year-old Giada Bianchi picked up their first Beach Pro Tour gold. Earlier this year, they collected one silver and two bronze medals, in addition to another silver from 2023, all from Futures events taking place in Italy. Seeded on top of the main draw, Orsi Toth & Bianchi went through the Corigliano Rossano tournament on a 5-1 win-loss record. In the semifinals, they delivered a 2-0 (21-18, 21-15) win over 10th-seeded qualifiers Cali & Allegretti, and in the final, they managed a 2-0 (21-17, 25-23) victory over eighth-seeded qualifiers Sestini & Ditta.
In their semifinal, 21-year-old Sestini and 23-year-old Ditta achieved a 2-0 (21-16, 21-15) victory over fourth-seeded Marta Ozolina & Luize Skrastina of Latvia to complete a run of five consecutive wins, including one over Orsi Toth & Bianchi in the pool stage, and secure their first Beach Pro Tour medal.
Cali & Allegretti bounced back with a 2-1 (21-15, 20-22, 15-10) win over Ozolina & Skrastina in the third-place match to decorate their pair’s Beach Pro Tour debut with bronze.
23-year-old Italians Dal Corso & Viscovich claimed their second Beach Pro Tour gold and sixth overall medal since they teamed up last season. All of their podiums were also achieved at Futures events at home in Italy. In Corigliano Rossano, the top-seeded pair cruised through their five matches without dropping a set. They mastered a 2-0 (21-18, 21-9) sweep of their semifinal against Argentinean qualifiers Ramiro Sancer & Julian Amado Azaad, and in the final, Dal Corso & Viscovich beat fifth-seeded Latvians Samoilovs & Relins by 2-0 (21-14, 22-20).
At their first appearance on Tour together, Samoilovs & Relins finished on a 4-2 win-loss record, enough for a silver medal. In their semifinal, they mounted a 2-1 (14-21, 21-15, 15-13) comeback against second-seeded Marchetto & Windisch, who then recovered with a 2-0 (24-22, 21-17) win over Sancer & Azaad for the bronze, their third Beach Pro Tour medal.
25 women’s and 25 men’s teams representing a total of 19 different countries took part in the Corigliano Rossano Futures. This week, from September 5 to 8, there will be two Futures events – in Warsaw, Poland for women and in Qidong, China for both genders.
