Yusuf Ozdemir & Batuhan Kuru delighted the home fans in Turkiye with the men’s gold, their first Beach Pro Tour medal of any color. In five matches played, the fourth-seeded Turkish duo persevered through five tie-breakers to finish the tournament unbeaten. They crowned their run with a 2-1 (21-19, 25-27, 15-7) win over ninth-seeded Latvian qualifiers Olivers Bulgacs & Markuss Graudins in the semifinals and a 2-1 (17-21, 21-14, 16-14) turnaround against another Latvian pair – Ardis Bedritis & Arturs Rinkevics – in the final.
Seventh-seeded Bedritis & Rinkevics won all four of their matches on the way to the final. In the semis, they produced a 2-0 (21-15, 22-20) victory over Oleksii Bublyk & Ivan Datsiuk to secure their fourth Beach Pro Tour medal.
The Ukrainian qualifiers, seeded 11th in the main draw, came back to win the bronze medal match against Bulgacs & Graudins by 2-0 (21-18, 21-9) and celebrate their first Beach Pro Tour podium as a duo.
23 women’s and 27 men’s duos representing 21 different countries took part in the Balikesir Futures.
The next Futures event is set to take place in Pompano Beach, USA from December 4 to 7.