Hungary girls storm U18 Beach Volleyball World Championship Main Draw

The 32 boys’ and girls’ teams that will take part in the FIVB Beach Volleyball Under 18 World Championship Main Draw were decided on Tuesday following the conclusion of the qualification phase at the Qatar Olympic Academy in Doha.

A total of 24 matches were played on Tuesday at the Qatar Olympic Academy in Al Gharafa with four boys and four girls pairs joining the 28 duos that had earlier been placed in the Main Draw of each gender category.

Hungary reaped big from the qualification phase with two girls' pairs qualifying for the Main Draw after winning their respective qualifying matches.

• Watch the FIVB Beach Volleyball U18 World Championship live on Beach Volleyball World's YouTube channel

The Hungarian pair of Emese Kiss-Bertók & Réka Pádár started the afternoon with a 2-0 (21-11, 21-18) sweep of Ukraine’s Mariia Shkurat & Marharyta Vapniar before beating Taylor Slean & Hannah Schad of Canada with a similar margin (21-17, 21-17) to qualify for the Main Draw.

The other Hungarian duo of Kármen Honti-Majoros & Alma Matkovits also cruised past Norway’s Stine Finholth and Oda Elise Skarlund in straight sets (21-12, 21-19) and then edged out Brazil’s Kiara Vitoria Ernesto Jeronimo & Leticia Schwalb Machado 2-0 (22-20, 21-17) to complete the job

Joining the Hungarians in the pool phase were Slovakia’s Ludmila Matyushenkova & Lea Zelenakova and USA’s Jordyn Scribner & Ella Grimes after putting up a dominant display, winning their two qualifying matches in straight sets. Scribner & Grimes will now join compatriots Avery Junk and Addison Junk in the pool phase set to begin on Wednesday.

“Today was definitely a fight, it was super fun and I’m glad that we qualified for the Main Draw. We’re happy that we got to play today as it was an opportunity to acclimatise. We are super excited for tomorrow, can’t wait to get to the courts and stay focused,” said Grimes.

FIVB Beach Volleyball U18 World Championship: Match Schedule and Results

In the boys’ category, Brazil qualified a second team to the Main Draw after the pair of Bruno Romano Cosendey Marques & George Henrique Sabeh Isernhagen swept aside their opponents in straight sets.

After cruising past Benin’s Abdel Sadath Tchetekoua & Abdou Kabirou Mama by 2-0 (21-04, 21-06), Bruno & George defeated Poland’s Igor Gliszczyński & Alan Robak by 2-0 (21-17, 21-15) to advance to the pool phase. Bruno & George will fly the Brazilian flag alongside Thomas Mathias Endler & Felippe Prudencio Arruda Barbiero in the pool phase.

Ukraine comeback

Ukraine’s Yehor Skrypnychenko & Andrii Lunkan rallied from a set down to overcome Malakai Tuakoi & Matix Williams by 2-1 (21-23, 21-18, 15-12) in the decisive third round and deny the Americans a second slot in the pool phase.

The last two slots were taken by Norway’s Ludvig Sødal Ringøen & Sebastian Lyngaas Kjemperud and Austria’s Martin Poinstingl & Paul Hohenauer; both teams posting a 2-0 win-loss record on the day to proceed to the Main Draw.

The Main Draw begins on Wednesday with 32 teams in each gender and pool play continues until Thursday. The top three teams in each of the eight pools advance to the elimination rounds – the eight pool winners go directly to the Round of 16, while the teams that finished second and third play in the Round of 24. Both rounds will be held on Thursday, with the quarterfinals and semifinals following on Friday and the medal matches concluding the event on Saturday.

Quick links:
FIVB Beach Volleyball U18 World Championship 2025
VBTV
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
YouTube
Subscribe to Volleyball World's Newsletter