The entire men`s podium at the Beach Pro Tour Warsaw Futures, held last week in Poland, was claimed by teams benefiting from the FIVB Volleyball Empowerment program. Lithuanian duo Arnas Rumsevicius and Karolis Palubinskas emerged victorious, securing their first-ever gold medal on the Beach Pro Tour. For 20-year-old Palubinskas, this marked his debut medal of any kind on the Tour. Silver went to Ukraine`s Anton Moiseiev and Vitalii Savvin, while Estonia`s Mart Tiisaar and Dimitriy Korotkov claimed the bronze.
The Beach Volleyball Department of the Lithuanian Volleyball Federation has received a total of USD 477,000 from FIVB Volleyball Empowerment for coach support for their national duos, along with an additional USD 12,000 for national team coach development knowledge transfer programs. The Lithuanian men`s pairs have been training under the guidance of coach Gytis Garbaciauskas. Seeded fourth, Rumsevicius and Palubinskas began the tournament in Poland with a loss to Tiisaar and Korotkov, but then embarked on a winning streak of five consecutive victories, culminating in their triumph as Warsaw Futures champions. In their semifinal match, the Lithuanian team narrowly defeated Czech qualifiers Krystof Jan Oliva and Vaclav Kurka with a tight 2-0 (22-20, 24-22) win. In the final, they were awarded a forfeit victory against Moiseiev and Savvin, who withdrew due to injury. While the Warsaw gold was Palubinskas`s inaugural Beach Pro Tour medal, his 30-year-old teammate Rumsevicius had previously earned a bronze on the Tour with a different partner.
The FIVB Volleyball Empowerment program has been supporting the Ukrainian Volleyball Federation since 2022 to continue its indoor and beach volleyball activities through an ongoing Memorandum of Understanding, which has provided total funding of USD 670,000 to date. Before withdrawing from the gold medal match in Warsaw, the Ukrainian pair had not dropped a single set in six matches, from qualifications through to the semifinals. In the semifinals, they secured a dramatic 2-0 (25-23, 23-21) victory over Tiisaar and Korotkov, guaranteeing themselves at least a silver medal. For the team of 20-year-old Moiseiev and 21-year-old Savvin, this was their second Tour podium appearance, following a silver at the Marica Futures last December.
The Beach Volleyball Department of the Estonian Volleyball Federation has been allocated a total of USD 168,000 from FIVB Volleyball Empowerment for coach support for their national teams, currently overseen by Beijing 2008 Olympian Rivo Vesik. Estonian beach volleyball has also received USD 11,500 in equipment from FIVB Volleyball Empowerment. The 13th-seeded duo Tiisaar and Korotkov reached the semifinals on the back of three consecutive wins. After a close loss to the Ukrainians, the Estonians recovered to win the third-place match against Oliva and Kurka in a hard-fought 2-1 (21-19, 20-22, 15-13), earning their first Beach Pro Tour medal as a duo.
A total of 27 men`s duos representing 17 different federations participated in the men`s Warsaw Futures tournament.
The women`s Warsaw Futures event is scheduled for this week, from September 11 to 14.
Finley Blackwood 
Jasper Thornfield