Dutch Empowerment teams sweep Laginha Beach Futures medals, Cape Verde; all-Dutch finals, six medals swept
Empowerment teams sweep both podiums at Laginha Beach Futures – FIVB
Photo source: Instituto do Desporto e da Juventude
Six teams from FIVB Volleyball Empowerments supported Netherlands, Germany and Spain swept all six medals at the Laginha Beach Futures in Cape Verde on the Beach Pro Tour. All-Dutch finals shaped up in both the men’s and the women’s tournaments. Thijmen Heemskerk & Calvin Ooms beat compatriots Yannick Verberne & Dirk Boehle in the men’s showdown. Leanne van Vegten & Jill de Groot and Elin Hoonhout & Kirsten Brоring of the Netherlands took gold and silver on the women’s side. The respective bronze medals went to Charlie Peters & Colin Paszkiewicz of Germany and Nazaret Florian & Carolina Fernаndez Da Silva of Spain.
The Netherlands Volleyball Federation (Nevobo) has so far been granted a total of USD 664,000 in national beach volleyball teams coach support from FIVB Volleyball Empowerment. Their women’s pairs work under the guidance of Brazilian coach Lucas Motta Palermo, while the men’s duos are trained by coach Michiel van der Kuip, a 1995 European champion as a player. The German Volleyball Federation’s beach volleyball department has been allocated a total of USD 168,000 in coach support from FIVB Volleyball Empowerment. Their national pairs are training under the supervision of former European champion and two-time Olympian Christoph Dieckmann, while Fabian Tobias has been hired in the role of National Coach for Science. The Real Federacion Espanola de Voleibol of Spain has been funded with USD 378,000 in FIVB Volleyball Empowerment coach support for its national beach volleyball teams, benefiting from coach Francisco Alfredo Marco’s expertise.
Both fifth-seeded Thijmen Heemskerk & Calvin Ooms and sixth-seeded Yannick Verberne & Dirk Boehle reached the men’s final in Laginha Beach undefeated in four matches each. Heemskerk & Ooms retained their unbeaten status even after the gold medal showdown, despite suffering their first and only loss of a set at the tournament. They came back from a set down to celebrate a 2-1 (12-21, 21-14, 15-13) victory and claim the gold, their first medal of any color on the Beach Pro Tour. Verberne & Boehle crowned their Beach Pro Tour debut as a pair with silver and the first Tour podium in 20-year-old Verberne’s career.
In the semifinals, Heemskerk & Ooms took out ninth-seeded Jacob Petersen & Villads Napier of Denmark in straight sets, 2-0 (21-19, 22-20), while Verberne & Boehle produced a 2-1 (16-21, 21-17, 15-13) turnaround against second-seeded Germans Charlie Peters & Colin Paszkiewicz.
Peters & Paszkiewicz bounced back with a 2-0 (21-16, 21-14) sweep of the third-place match against Petersen & Napier and picked up their second bronze on the Tour, after their third-place finish at the Ios Futures last month.
On the women’s side, Leanne van Vegten and 18-year-old Jill de Groot of the Netherlands, who topped the podium at the Apeldoorn Futures at home in May, added a second gold to their collection by winning all four of their matches in Cape Verde. In the semifinals, second-seeded Van Vegten & De Groot lost their only set of the competition, but came up with a 2-1 (21-18, 19-21, 15-10) win over fifth-seeded Spaniards Nazaret Florian & Carolina Fernаndez Da Silva. In the all-Dutch final, they produced a 2-0 (21-15, 21-15) shutout of Elin Hoonhout & Kirsten Brоring.
In their semifinal, Hoonhout & Broring, seeded 13th in the 13-team main draw, battled it out for a 2-1 (19-21, 21-18, 15-12) victory over third-seeded Cathrine Hjeltnes & Julia Tennoy of Norway. This way, Hoonhout decorated her Beach Pro Tour debut with a spot on the podium, while it was the second silver on the Tour for Broring.
At only their third appearance on the Tour together, Florian & Fernаndez Da Silva collected their first medal. They bounced back from their only loss in Laginha Beach with a 2-1 (21-18, 16-21, 15-6) victory over Hjeltnes & Tennoy for the bronze.
18 men’s and 13 women’s pairs representing 16 different federations took part in the Laginha Beach Futures.
The next Futures stop on the Beach Pro Tour will be held in Qidong, China from July 30 to August 2.
Laginha Beach Futures: all results
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