TURKIYE
Slovenia’s Tjasa Kotnik & Tajda Lovsin topped the final standings of the women’s competition at the Cesme stop on Turkiye’s Bioderma Pro Beach Tour. In the gold medal match, they achieved a 2-0 (24-22, 21-11) victory over Danieke Prins & Wies Bekhuis of the Netherlands. A mixed Turkish-Russian pairing – top-seeded Anna Degirmenci & Adelya Akhmetova – completed the podium with bronze. In the third-place game, they hammered out a 2-0 (21-4, 21-17) win over another mixed team, that of Bulgaria’s Darina Kindova and Romania’s Ioana Andreea Miu.
A Dutch-Italian combo – Mees Sengers & Giacomo Titta – won the men’s gold in Cesme. In the final showdown, they mastered a 2-0 (21-9, 21-11) shutout of Mahyar Ghiassinowghabi & Zargham Mansouri of Iran. The bronze went to another Iranian pair. In the third-place match, second-seeded Bahman Salemiinjehboroun & Arash Vakili celebrated a hard-fought 2-1 (24-22, 19-21, 15-11) victory over bracket leaders Sacit Kurt & Batuhan Kuru.
RUSSIA
The Finals of the Russia Championship Tour in beach volleyball were held in Anapa, and the 2026 national titleholders were crowned. 2019 world champion and Tokyo 2020 Olympic silver medalist Oleg Stoyanovskiy and his current teammate Ilya Leshukov lived up to their top seed status and celebrated the men’s title. In the gold medal showdown, the defending champions produced an emphatic 2-0 (21-11, 21-11) victory over Dmitrii Veretiuk & Fedor Sabaev. Vladislav Panchenko & Aleksei Arkhipov earned bronze after a 2-1 (21-15, 15-21, 15-13) upset of the second-seeded pairing of Stoyanovskiy’s former partner, also a 2019 world champion and a Tokyo 2020 Olympic silver medalist, Viacheslav Krasilnikov with Vladislav Reinson in the third-place game.
2018 Youth Olympic champions and multiple age-category world and European champions Mariia Bocharova & Maria Voronina, bracket leaders in the women’s tournament in Anapa, also triumphed as national champions. They put together a 2-0 (21-13, 22-20) sweep of the title match against third-seeded Polina Tyshkevich & Daria Rudykh. Arina Riazhnova & Elizaveta Ludkova occupied the third place on the women’s podium. In the bronze medal playoff, they hammered out a 2-0 (21-13, 21-16) victory over Ekaterina Khramtsova & Anna Saveleva.
