Italian Pairs Dominate Modena Futures With Five Podium Finishes
Sports Correspondent: Imran Sohail
Italian beach volleyball teams enjoyed a highly successful home tournament in Modena, winning five of the six available medals at the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Futures event.
Italian teams produced a strong performance at the 2026 Modena Futures, taking five podium places across the men’s and women’s competitions.
The only medal won by a non-Italian team came in the women’s event, where Dutch pair Leanne van Vegten and Jill de Groot finished runners-up. Italy’s Valentina Gottardi and Reka Orsi Toth claimed the women’s gold, while Anna Pelloia and Maria Rachele Mancinelli secured bronze.
In the men’s competition, Italy completed a clean sweep of the podium. Tiziano Andreatta and Raoul Acerbi won gold, followed by Marco Di Felice and Davide Borraccino with silver and Marco Ulisse and Giacomo Spadoni with bronze.
Gottardi and Orsi Toth Win Women’s Title
Paris 2024 Olympian Valentina Gottardi and Reka Orsi Toth captured their second Beach Pro Tour title as a partnership.
The Italian duo went through the Modena tournament undefeated, winning all five of their matches and dropping just one set.
They defeated compatriots Anna Pelloia and Maria Rachele Mancinelli 21-13, 21-16 in the semifinals before overcoming Dutch pair Leanne van Vegten and Jill de Groot 21-11, 21-12 in the final.
The result marked another important podium finish for Gottardi and Orsi Toth, who previously won the 2025 Hamburg Elite title.
The Dutch team also reached the final without a defeat before the championship match. In the semifinals, van Vegten and de Groot came from behind to beat Italy’s Claudia Puccinelli and Aurora Mattavelli 19-21, 21-16, 17-15.
Pelloia and Mancinelli completed the women’s podium after Puccinelli and Mattavelli were unable to contest the bronze-medal match.
Andreatta and Acerbi Complete Seven-Match Winning Run
In the men’s event, Tiziano Andreatta and Raoul Acerbi produced one of the tournament’s biggest stories.
The Italian pair began their campaign in the qualifying rounds and went on to win seven consecutive matches on their way to the title. They lost only one set throughout the competition.
In the semifinals, the 12th-seeded duo defeated top seeds Enrico Rossi and Marco Caminati 21-14, 25-23.
They then beat 10th seeds Marco Di Felice and Davide Borraccino 21-17, 21-15 in the final to secure their first Beach Pro Tour gold medal.
The victory also gave Andreatta and Acerbi their second consecutive podium finish after taking bronze at the Geneva Futures event in June.
Di Felice Reaches Podium on Beach Pro Tour Debut
Eighteen-year-old Marco Di Felice marked his Beach Pro Tour debut with a silver medal alongside Davide Borraccino.
The pair reached the final after defeating third seeds Marco Ulisse and Giacomo Spadoni in a closely contested semifinal. They recovered from losing the opening set to win 16-21, 21-17, 15-13.
Ulisse and Spadoni responded in the bronze-medal match, defeating tournament top seeds Rossi and Caminati 30-28, 15-21, 16-14.
The result gave Ulisse and Spadoni their second consecutive Beach Pro Tour podium appearance following their silver medal at the Geneva Futures in June.
51 Teams From 23 Federations Take Part
The Modena Futures featured 26 women’s pairs and 28 men’s pairs representing 23 different federations, highlighting the international reach of the Beach Pro Tour.
With the Modena tournament now complete, the next Futures event will take place in Budapest, Hungary, from September 3 to 6, 2026.
The event in Hungary will provide another opportunity for beach volleyball teams to compete for valuable Beach Pro Tour points and podium finishes.
