Teams from Switzerland and Denmark also earned medals at the Beach Pro Tour event in Italy.
The women`s competition at the Messina Futures saw two Czech pairs reach the podium for the second consecutive time on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour, following their success at the Prague Futures earlier in the month. Martina Maixnerova and Kylie Neuschaeferova claimed the gold medal, improving on their previous result, while Katerina Pavelkova and Anna Pavelkova secured the bronze. Joining them on the podium were Switzerland`s Menia Bentele and Annique Niederhauser, who earned the silver medal. The men`s final was an all-Italian affair, with Alex Ranghieri and Tobia Marchetto defeating Samuele Cottafava and Gianluca Dal Corso for the gold. Denmark`s Mads Mollgaard and Nicolai Houmann finished third, taking the bronze.
Competing in Messina as the third seeds, Maixnerova and Neuschaeferova had a dominant run, losing only one set across five matches en route to their first gold and second overall medal as a team on the Beach Pro Tour. Their path to the final included a 2-0 (21-17, 21-14) victory in the semifinals against their compatriots, the 14th-seeded Lucie Knoblochova and Adela Petrikova, who had advanced from the qualification rounds. The gold medal match against Bentele and Niederhauser was a close contest, with Maixnerova and Neuschaeferova ultimately securing a hard-fought 2-0 win (23-21, 21-19).
This marked the second meeting between the sixth-seeded Swiss pair and Maixnerova/Neuschaeferova during the tournament; these were the only two defeats for Bentele and Niederhauser in Messina. In their semifinal clash against the top-seeded Pavelkova twins, the Swiss pair staged a comeback after losing the first set, winning 2-1 (19-21, 21-17, 15-11). This victory secured Bentele and Niederhauser their first medal as a team on the Tour and ended the 19-year-old Czech twins` winning streak at the event.
In the all-Czech third-place match, the Pavelkovas bounced back decisively, defeating Knoblochova and Petrikova 2-0 (21-14, 21-16). This bronze medal is their third consecutive Futures medal, adding to their silver in Cervia and gold in Prague.
In the men`s tournament, the newly formed Italian partnership of two-time Olympian Alex Ranghieri and Tobia Marchetto achieved remarkable success in what appears to be a trial run on the Beach Pro Tour. Entering from the qualification rounds, they went on an impressive six-match winning streak to claim the gold medal. As the fourth seeds, they secured a solid 2-0 (21-16, 21-16) win against Denmark`s Mollgaard and Houmann in the semifinals. The all-Italian final saw them emerge victorious with a hard-fought 2-1 (21-18, 18-21, 15-13) scoreline against Cottafava and Dal Corso.
The second-seeded Italian pair of Cottafava and Dal Corso reached their first Beach Pro Tour podium together by dominating their semifinal match against the sixth-seeded Germans Jannis Hopt and Simon Pfretzschner, winning decisively 2-0 (21-12, 21-18).
Denmark`s fifth-seeded Mollgaard and Houmann secured their third consecutive Beach Pro Tour Futures bronze medal, having also finished third in Cervia and Krakow. Their only losses in Messina came against the eventual champions, Ranghieri and Marchetto, both in the pool final and the semifinals. However, they bounced back in the bronze medal match, narrowly defeating Hopt and Pfretzschner 2-0 (21-17, 23-21) to claim their spot on the podium.
A total of 24 women`s teams and 22 men`s teams from 14 countries competed at the Messina Futures. The next event on the Futures calendar is a women`s tournament scheduled for this week in Geneva, Switzerland, from June 26 to 29.
Jasper Thornfield 
Oliver Wrenwick