Austrian teenagers Lia Berger & Lilli Hohenauer triumphed on top of the women’s podium at the Leuven Futures on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour. Belgian home favorites Youna Coens & Sarah Cools and Lisa Luini & Desy Poiesz of the Netherlands joined them among the medalists with silver and bronze. In an all-Belgian men’s final, Louis Vandecaveye & Gilles Vandecaveye edged Kyan Vercauteren & Joppe Van Langendonck, while Poland’s Piotr Kantor & Artem Besarab completed the podium.
17-year-old Lia Berger and 18-year-old Lilli Hohenauer collected their first ever Beach Pro Tour gold. Of the two, only Berger had previously medaled on the Tour with a Balikesir Futures bronze with a different partner last year. The reigning U18 European champions suffered only one loss in Leuven, in their pool final against top-seeded Peruvians Lisbeth Allcca & Claudia Gaona, which they followed up with a four-game winning streak, crowned with a 2-0 (21-17, 21-19) sweep of the gold medal match against Belgium’s Youna Coens & Sarah Cools.
In the semifinals, the eighth-seeded Austrians produced a 2-0 (21-15, 21-15) shutout of another Belgian duo, Britt Ruysschaert & Isabel Van den Broeck, while fourth-seeded Coens & Cools put together a 2-0 (21-15, 21-18) win over third-seeded Lisa Luini & Desy Poiesz to secure a podium finish at their first Beach Pro Tour appearance as partners.
The Dutch pair bounced back with a 2-0 (21-15, 21-18) victory over Ruysschaert & Van den Broeck in the third-place game and collected their third Beach Pro Tour medal.
Top-seeded Louis Vandecaveye & Gilles Vandecaveye lived up to their status and claimed the men’s gold in Leuven, their second in a row, after they triumphed also at the Ios Futures, which brings their total medal count on the Beach Pro Tour to five. They delighted the home crowd in Belgium with a victorious run of five wins, decorated with a 2-1 (19-21, 21-16, 15-12) comeback against fellow Belgians, reigning U21 world champions Kyan Vercauteren & Joppe Van Langendonck, in the gold medal showdown.
Third-seeded Vercauteren & Van Langendonck also reached the final undefeated. They came back from a set down to earn a 2-1 (19-21, 21-19, 15-11) semifinal victory over Polish qualifiers Piotr Kantor & Artem Besarab to guarantee themselves their third Beach Pro Tour podium. In the other semifinal, the Vandecaveyes delivered a narrow 2-0 (21-19, 21-19) win over fourth-seeded Adam Waber & Matyas Jezek of Czechia.
Two-time Olympian Kantor and 19-year-old Besarab decorated their first Beach Pro Tour participation together with a bronze medal after managing a 2-0 (21-17, 23-21) victory over Waber & Jezek in the third-place match.
27 women’s teams and 28 men’s teams representing 24 different countries from all five continental confederations took part in the Leuven Futures. The next Futures events will take place in Tallinn, Estonia from August 13 to 16 and in Busan Gwangalli, Korea from August 14 to 17.