Reigning 2023 U21 world champions Kyan Vercauteren & Joppe Van Langendonck of Belgium topped the men’s podium at the Bujumbura Futures on Saturday and earned their first ever Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour medal. Hungary’s Boldizsar Borbely & Lukas Niemeier and Germany’s Malte Hoppner & Moritz Camp completed an all-European podium in Burundi, while Japan’s Miharu Kashihara & Izumi Ishihara, USA’s Kelly Kool & Tiffany Svenssohn and Greece’s Elisavet Triantafillidi & Dimitra Manavi lined up with the women’s gold, silver and bronze, respectively.

20-year-old Kyan Vercauteren and 21-year-old Joppe Van Langendonck did not lose a single set in all four matches they played in Bujumbura, dashing towards their first Beach Pro Tour podium in a perfect manner. The second-seeded Belgians’ impeccable run was completed with a 2-0 (21-18, 21-16) sweep of the semifinal against fourth-seeded Danijel Pokersnik & Nejc Zemljak of Slovenia and a 2-0 (21-18, 21-12) sweep of the final against sixth-seeded Boldizsar Borbely & Lukas Niemeier.

Before losing the final, 19-year-old Borbely and 17-year-old Niemeier also mastered a flawless streak of four straight-set victories, crowned by a 2-0 (21-15, 21-19) win over ninth-seeded Malte Hoppner & Moritz Camp in the semifinals to secure the Hungarian pair’s first Beach Pro Tour medal.

The 21-year-old Germans celebrated their maiden Tour medal as well, after bouncing back with a hard-fought 2-0 (23-21, 21-18) victory over Pokersnik & Zemljak in the bronze medal game.

In a similar fashion, 26-year-old Miharu Kashihara and 21-year-old Izumi Ishihara cruised through the women’s tournament on a streak of four consecutive straight-set wins in a row to claim their first Beach Pro Tour medal. The fifth-seeded Japanese pair produced a 2-0 (21-12, 21-5) sweep of their semifinal against top-seeded home favourites Pamella Irakoze & Emmanuelie Ndayikengurukiye of Burundi. In the gold medal showdown, Miharu & Ishihara delivered a 2-0 (21-17, 23-21) victory over second-seeded Kelly Kool & Tiffany Svenssohn.

It was the second Beach Pro Tour silver for 34-year-old Kool and 29-year-old Svenssohn, after their runner-up finish at the Pirae Tahiti Futures in April. The Americans swept all three of their matches on the way to the Bujumbura final, decorating their streak with a 2-0 (21-15, 21-18) semifinal victory over third-seeded Greeks Elisavet Triantafillidi & Dimitra Manavi.

32-year-old Triantafillidi and 27-year-old Manavi collected their first Beach Pro Tour medal as a pair upon a 2-0 (21-9, 21-12) win over Irakoze & Ndayikengurukiye for the bronze.

13 men’s and eight women’s teams representing 10 different countries took part in the Bujumbura Futures. The Qingdao Futures in China is set to come to a conclusion on Sunday. Next week’s Beach Pro Tour schedule offers two Futures events again, a women’s tournament in Castellon de la Plana, Spain from September 18 to 22, and a dual-gender competition in Balikesir, Türkiye from September 19 to 23.

Bujumbura Futures: results and standings

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