Just a day after two German pairs medalled at the Ios Futures in Greece, another three teams from the central European country celebrated on the podium at the Messina Futures in Italy, claiming both gold medals and a silver. Anna-Lena Grune & Chenoa Christ defeated Margareta Kozuch & Sarah Schneider in the women’s final, while Robin Sowa & Maximilian Just beat Netherlands’ Mees Sengers & Dirk Boehle in the men’s gold medal showdown. Both bronze medals went to home teams from Italy - Gianluca Dal Corso & Marco Viscovich for men and Reka Orsi Toth & Giada Bianchi for women.

Sowa & Just, who started competing together on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour some two months ago, in April, and celebrated their first gold two weeks ago in Krakow, now snatched their second consecutive Futures trophy, this time cruising through the Messina tournament undefeated. In their semifinal, the fifth-seeded Germans mastered a 2-0 (21-13, 21-17) upset of top-seeded Dal Corso & Viscovich and went on to take a hard-fought 2-1 (21-18, 18-21, 15-8) victory over third-seeded Sengers & Boehle in Sunday’s final showdown.

The Dutch pairing of experienced 31-year-old Boehle and 20-year-old Sengers claimed their second consecutive and third overall Futures silver. Just two weeks earlier, they played at the Sveti Vlas final in Bulgaria. They also reached the Messina final unbeaten through the semifinals, where they achieved a 2-1 (21-19, 20-22, 15-7) win over fourth-seeded Italians Davide Benzi & Carlo Bonifazi.

In an all-Italian third place match, Dal Corso & Viscovich produced a 2-0 (21-16, 21-16) victory over Benzi & Bonifazi and defended their Messina bronze from 2023 to pick up their fifth Beach Pro Tour medal.

Ninth-seeded Grune & Christ went through the women’s tournament on a 5-1 win-loss record. The only loss they suffered came in the Pool A final against top-seeded Orsi Toth & Bianchi. In the semifinals, the Germans met the same Italian pair again and got back at them with a nail-biting 2-1 (22-20, 20-22, 15-13) victory. In the final, Grune & Chirst delivered another upset, this time of second-seeded fellow Germans Kozuch & Schneider, by an emphatic 2-0 (21-13, 21-13), to collect the team’s second gold and third overall medal on the Beach Pro Tour.

For both 37-year-old Kozuch, a former German indoor international star and a Tokyo 2020 beach Olympian, and 28-year-old Schneider, the appearance at the Messina Futures marked a Beach Pro Tour debut. Neither of them had competed internationally since 2021. Similar to compatriots Grune & Christ, Kozuch & Schneider got to the Messina final on a 4-1 win-loss record. They were defeated in their pool winners’ match by 10^th-seeded Heleene Hollas & Liisa Remmelg, but took revenge from the Estonians in the semifinals with a 2-1 (21-11, 18-21, 15-13) win.

Orsi Toth & Bianchi managed a 2-0 (21-19, 21-17) victory over Hollas & Remmelg to take the bronze and step on their fourth Beach Pro Tour podium.

24 men’s and 26 women’s teams representing a total of 20 different countries took part in the Messina Futures. The next Futures event will take place in Baden, Austria from June 26 to 30.

Messina Futures: results and standings

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