Last week at the Ios Futures tournament in Greece, four pairs backed by the FIVB Volleyball Empowerment program secured medals. The women`s gold medal was won by Ukrainian sisters Inna and Iryna Makhno, marking their second consecutive victory on the Tour. The home crowd celebrated as Greece`s Elisavet Triantafillidi and Dimitra Manavi claimed silver, while Saofe Duval and Marilu Pally from France finished with bronze. In the men`s competition, Austria`s Robin Seidl and Alexander Huber earned bronze. Gilles and Louis Vandecaveye of Belgium achieved their inaugural Beach Pro Tour gold, and Spain`s Daniel Moreno and Roberto Sanfelix finished as silver medalists.
The FIVB Volleyball Empowerment initiative has provided substantial support, totaling USD 670,000 since 2022, to the Ukraine Volleyball Federation through a Memorandum of Understanding, helping continue their volleyball and beach volleyball activities. Inna and Iryna Makhno recently clinched their second Beach Pro Tour gold at the Krakow Futures, nearly three years after their first, and followed this with their third victory just one week later in Ios. Despite losing their pool final to Duval & Pally as the third seeds, the Ukrainian duo navigated a tougher path to the semifinals, where they defeated the French pair in a rematch with a 2-0 scoreline (21-17, 21-13). In a hard-fought final, the Makhno twins triumphed 2-1 (21-17, 19-21, 18-16) over the Greek home favorites, Triantafillidi and Manavi.
The Greek volleyball federation`s beach volleyball program has received a total of USD 262,500 in coaching support from FIVB Volleyball Empowerment, with national pairs training under coaches Konstantinos Pothitakis and Efstathios Chandrinos. Ranked fourth, the Greek team of Triantafillidi and Manavi capitalized on playing on home sand to reach their first-ever Beach Pro Tour final. In their semifinal match, they secured a close 2-0 victory (22-20, 21-19) against Japan`s fifth-seeded Sakura Ito and Mayu Sawame, guaranteeing their second appearance on a Tour podium.
France`s beach volleyball program has benefited significantly from FIVB Volleyball Empowerment, receiving USD 1,077,000 for coach support and an additional USD 5,500 for equipment. Their women`s national teams are coached by Youssef Krou. After their winning streak was broken in the semifinal by the Makhno twins, the sixth-seeded pair of Duval and Pally rebounded to win the bronze medal match against Sakura and Sawame with a 2-0 score (21-16, 21-17), achieving their first Tour podium together.
Austrian beach volleyball has received USD 84,000 in coaching support from FIVB Volleyball Empowerment, plus USD 6,000 for a coach development program. Greek coach Georgios Kotsilianos is in charge of their men`s national teams. Experienced Olympians from Rio 2016, Seidl and Huber, ranked fifth in Ios, earned their third medal on the Tour since reforming their partnership this season. Following a silver in Songkhla and bronze in Battipaglia, they added another bronze last week by defeating Held and Nissen convincingly 2-0 (21-16, 21-15) in the match for third place.
Gilles and Louis Vandecaveye, the Belgian brothers, had previously won three Beach Pro Tour medals, but the Ios Futures marked their first time atop the podium. As sixth seeds, they went undefeated through the men`s tournament with five straight wins. They secured their spot in the final with a dominant 2-0 victory (21-17, 21-7) over the 11th-seeded German pair Niklas Held and Hennes Jorge Nissen, before claiming the title with a hard-fought 2-0 win (21-16, 23-21) against Moreno and Sanfelix in the final.
Ranked seventh, the Spanish team of Moreno and Sanfelix earned their first-ever Beach Pro Tour medal with a silver finish. They reached the final after causing an upset against Seidl and Huber in the semifinals, winning 2-1 (21-11, 18-21, 15-12).
The Ios Futures competition featured 22 men`s teams and 21 women`s teams, representing a total of 22 different nations. The subsequent Futures event is a women`s tournament scheduled to take place in Geneva, Switzerland, from June 26 to 29 this week.
Ios Futures: results and standings
Oliver Wrenwick 
Finley Blackwood