Beach U21 World Championships 2025

Mexico against Latvia and Poland against Poland in mighty men’s semifinal clashes in Puebla

Auzins & Fokerots will take on Lares & Carlos Andres, while Pietraszek & Krzeminski will battle it out with Beta & Besarab

Published 04:13, 19 Oct 2025

Auziņš G./Fokerots (LAT) vs. Kozii/Nahornyi (UKR) - Quarterfinals #68314455

Latvia’s Gustavs Auzins in attack during the quarterfinal against Ukraine

In one of the men’s semifinals at the 2025 FIVB Beach Volleyball U21 World Championships in Puebla, 2022 U19 world champions Gustavs Auzins & Kristians Fokerots of Latvia will be challenged by Mexican home heroes Antonio Lares & Carlos Andres Ayala. In the other, 2024 U19 world champions Szymon Pietraszek & Jakub Krzeminski will face Szymon Beta & Artem Besarab in an all-Polish clash for a spot in Sunday’s gold medal showdown.

Watch the 2025 FIVB U21 Beach Volleyball World Championships on the Beach Volleyball World YouTube channel

Auzins & Fokerots of Latvia continued their merciless quest towards another world title with two more wins in Puebla on Saturday that made them the first team with a secured spot in the semifinals. The Latvian duo are yet to lose a set after five matches played at this World Championship. In their quarterfinal game on center court, Auzins & Fokerots mastered a 2-0 (21-18, 21-16) shutout of Ukrainian qualifiers Dmytro Kozii & Sviatoslav Nahornyi, and earlier in the day, they hammered out a 2-0 (21-16, 21-19) sweep of their eighthfinal against Casper Willems & Alexy Humblet of Belgium.

“The games today were really hard. I think of us as a little bit of favorites in every game, but still every game is really, really hard. We are happy that we can be the first semifinalists and, hopefully, we get the wins tomorrow as well,” Fokerots told FIVB.com.

“I love the crowd here. The atmosphere is the best I have ever played in! So, I really hope that tomorrow there will be so many people again and I can’t wait to get out there and play,” Auzins added.

Next on center court, the fantastic crowd was delighted by a convincing 2-0 (21-13, 21-14) shutout that home favorites Lares & Carlos Andres hammered out in their quarterfinal against Germany’s Tristan Frobel & Tamo Wust to push through to the semifinals. Before that, the inspired Mexican team also swept their eighthfinal against Czechia’s Vojtech Pavlusek & Vojtech Votava by 2-0 (21-16, 21-13). So, Lares & Carlos Andres’s winning streak in Puebla was also extended to five matches without a set lost.

Lares/Carlos Andres (MEX) vs. Pavlusek/Votava (CZE) - Round of 16 #68291474

Mexico’s Antonio Lares & Carlos Andres Ayala continue to source inspiration from the fantastic home crowd in Puebla

A three-set battle unfolded in the quarterfinal between Pietraszek & Krzeminski and Norway’s Even Aas & Jonah Utvik, two teams that started their Puebla campaigns from Wednesday’s qualifications. Trailing after the first set, the Poles managed to mount a solid 2-1 (16-21, 21-18, 15-12) comeback and advanced to the semis. They had to play another two playoff games earlier on Saturday, which they managed to win in straight sets – 2-0 (21-7, 21-10) in their sixteenthfinal against Mozambique’s Ednilson Tivane & Helton Guvo and 2-0 (21-13, 21-19) in their eighthfinal against Italian qualifiers Andrea Sanguanini & Matteo Iurisci.

Aas/Utvik (NOR) vs. Pietraszek/Krzeminski (POL) - Quarterfinals #68313933

Poland’s Szymon Pietraszek spikes past the block of Norway’s Even Aas

In the last men’s quarterfinal, Beta & Besarab outplayed USA’s Malachi Brewington & Titus Lance in an emphatic 2-0 (21-13, 21-14) sweep to set up an all-Polish semifinal encounter with compatriots Pietraszek & Krzeminski on Sunday. For Beta & Besarab, the day also started from the sixteenthfinal round, where they claimed a tight 2-0 (22-20, 21-19) win over Australia’s Finley Bennett & James Kay. The Polish duo went on to knock out Iran’s AmirAli GhalehNovi & Habib Naseri in a 2-0 (22-20, 21-15) eighthfinal.