Program beneficiaries from Israel, Austria, Thailand and Japan make the podiums
- FIVB Volleyball Empowerment supported pairs from Israel, Austria and Thailand fill the men’s podium at the Songkhla Futures
- Ren Matsumoto & Non Matsumoto from program-supported Japan claim the women’s silver
- Teams from USA and China pick up the remaining women’s medals in Thailand
The third Futures event on the 2025 Beach Pro Tour was held in Thailand with Eylon Elazar & Kevin Cuzmiciov (pictured in the main photo) of FIVB Volleyball Empowerment supported Israel topping the men’s podium.
Other program beneficiaries – Austrian stars Alexander Huber & Robin Seidl and home favorites Dunwinit Kaewsai & Banlue Nakprakhong – finished first and second runners-up in the men’s tournament in Songkhla, while Ren Matsumoto & Non Matsumoto of FIVB Volleyball Empowerment supported Japan earned the women’s silver. USA’s Alaina Chacon & Morgan Chacon claimed their second consecutive gold while China’s Yu Tong & Jiang Kaiyue took bronze in the women’s competition.
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The Israel Volleyball Association’s beach volleyball department has been allocated the sum of CHF 72,000 from FIVB Volleyball Empowerment in coach support for their national beach volleyball teams and they have been working under the supervision of Italian instructor Matteo Varnier. Fifth-seeded Eylon Elazar & Kevin Cuzmiciov cruised through the tournament in Songkhla on a run of five consecutive wins, dropping only a set along the way to their first Beach Pro Tour gold as a team. Of the two players, only Elazar had once topped a podium on the Tour before with a different partner. Together, the Israeli pair had previously collected two silver medals, at the 2023 Corigliano Rossano Futures and at the 2024 Brussels Futures. In the Songkhla semifinals, Elazar & Cuzmiciov put together a 2-0 (21-19, 21-15) victory over fourth-seeded Germans Momme Lorenz & Tilo Rietschel, and then they mastered a 2-0 (21-13, 21-18) sweep of the final against Austrian Olympians Alexander Huber & Robin Seidl.
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Austrian beach volleyball has also been funded with CHF 72,000 in FIVB Volleyball Empowerment coach support, in addition to another CHF 5,000 for a national team coaches development knowledge transfer program. Greek coach Georgios Kotsilianos has been in charge of their men’s national duos. 39-year-old Huber and 35-year-old Seidl, who last competed together at the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games before reuniting for the start of the 2025 season, decorated their Beach Pro Tour debut as a duo with silver. They crowned their four-game winning streak in Songkhla with a 2-0 (21-18, 24-22) semifinal win over top-seeded Dunwinit Kaewsai & Banlue Nakprakhong of Thailand.
The Thailand Volleyball Association’s beach volleyball department is benefitting from a total of CHF 216,000 worth of FIVB Volleyball Empowerment coach support and their national teams trained under the guidance of Brazilian coach Adriana Bento. Dunwinit & Banlue bounced back from their semifinal loss with a 2-0 (21-18, 21-17) sweep of the third place game against Lorenz & Rietschel to pick up the bronze, the pair’s second Beach Pro Tour medal, after the Qidong Futures silver last year.
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Alaina Chacon & Morgan Chacon made it to their third consecutive podium at their fourth Beach Pro Tour appearance as a team, after the Mount Maunganui Futures bronze and the Coolangatta Futures gold in March. The seventh-seeded Americans had to take the detour route to the Songkhla women’s gold after losing the Pool B final. In the knockouts, they started with three straight-set wins, including a 2-0 (21-19, 21-11) sweep of their semifinal against 11th-seeded Salinda Mungkhon & Samitta Simarongnam of Thailand. In the gold medal showdown, however, Chacon & Chacon had a tight three-set battle with eighth-seeded Ren Matsumoto & Non Matsumoto. The Japanese opponents pushed them deep into overtime in the tie-breaker, before the American duo could triumph with a 2-1 (21-19, 19-21, 20-18) victory.
The Japan Volleyball Association’s beach volleyball department has also received coach support in CHF 72,000 of FIVB Volleyball Empowerment funding. Their national team duos have been working with American coach Steve Anderson. At last week’s tournament, Japan’s Ren & Non managed to match their result from the 2022 Songkhla Futures when they earned their only previous Beach Pro Tour podium. To secure the team’s second silver on the Tour, the Japanese produced four back-to-back wins in Thailand, crowned with a 2-0 (21-19, 21-15) semifinal victory over Yu Tong & Jiang Kaiyue.
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Seeded fifth in the main draw, the pair of 20-year-old Chinese athletes picked up the bronze, their third Beach Pro Tour medal as a team, after the Qidong and Qingdao Futures silvers last year. In the third place match, Yu & Jiang battled it out for a 2-1 (24-22, 22-24, 15-8) victory over Salinda & Samitta.
28 men’s teams and 28 women’s teams representing 24 different countries took part in the Songkhla Futures. The next Futures events will be held in Valencia, Spain from April 30 to May 4 and in Nuvali, Philippines from May 1 to 4.
Songkhla Futures: all results and standings
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