New Zealand’s Thomas Reid & John McManaway topped the podium at last week’s men’s Futures event in Pirae Tahiti to snatch their first-ever gold on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour. Japan’s Takumi Takahashi & Jumpei Ikeda took the silver in French Polynesia, while Ukraine’s Ivan Datsiuk & Ivan Likhatskyi landed the bronze upon their debut on the Tour.

Thomas Reid & John McManaway lived up to their top seeding in the Pirae Tahiti Futures and triumphed on top of the podium for the first time in their careers. But it wasn’t a smooth ride all the way through for the New Zealanders. In the Pool A winners’ match, the Kiwis suffered a setback at the hands of Norway’s Havard Solheim & Oscar Majak Gundersen after a three-set battle, 2-1 (21-19, 14-21, 16-14), so they had to take the long route to the medals, through the eighthfinal round.

28-year-old Reid and 22-year-old McManaway dropped no more sets on the way to the gold. Their impeccable four-game streak was crowned by a 2-0 (21-18, 21-18) shutout of second-seeded Takumi Takahashi & Jumpei Ikeda in the final showdown. This maiden gold was the fourth overall Beach Pro Tour medal for the New Zealand duo. Previously, they had collected two silvers in 2023 and a Coolangatta Futures bronze last month as a team.

Ikeda repeated his silver result from last year’s Futures in Tahiti, but this year’s podium was the first for Ikeda & Takahashi as a pair. To secure this success, the Japanese team mastered a 2-0 (21-11, 21-14) sweep of their semifinal against Solheim & Majak. In the other semifinal, Reid & McManaway produced a 2-0 (21-9, 21-17) win over Ivan Datsiuk & Ivan Likhatskyi.

The Ukrainian Beach Pro Tour rookies, seeded 10th in the main draw, made sure they make their debut a truly memorable one and bounced back with a 2-0 (21-18, 21-16) victory over the Norwegians in the third-place match.

16 men’s teams representing nine different countries took part in the Pirae Tahiti Futures. Next on the Beach Pro Tour programme is the women’s Futures tournament in Pirae Tahiti, taking place from April 9 to 12.

Pirae Tahiti Futures - men: results and standings

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