Two duos from FIVB Volleyball Empowerment supported Philippines (pictured in the main photo; source: Sisi Rondina) wrote a golden page for their country’s beach volleyball by reaching Sunday’s final of the women’s Busan Futures on the Beach Pro Tour. The gold medal went to Khylem Harl Progella & Sofiah Shanine Pagara, while their compatriots Cherry Ann Rondina & Bernadeth Pons brought home bronze. Jana Milutinovic & Jasmine Rayner Australia, also benefiting from the program, completed the podium in Korea.
The Philippine National Volleyball Federation has so far been assisted with a total of USD 915,500 combined in coach support from FIVB Volleyball Empowerment, a portion of which has been tagged to their beach volleyball national teams benefitting from the expertise of Brazilian coach Joao Luciano Simao Barbosa. In addition, the national federation of the Philippines has received USD 26,000 in beach volleyball equipment. Volleyball Australia’s beach volleyball department has so far been granted a total of USD 546,000 worth of FIVB Volleyball Empowerment coach support for their national teams on the sand. Brad Tutton coaches the women’s duos.
20-year-old Progella and 21-year-old Pagara of the Philippines made a fantastic run through the tournament – seven consecutive victories that led them from the first qualification round on Thursday all the way to the top of the podium on Sunday. Seeded 13th in the 16-team main draw, they dropped only two sets throughout the tournament, one of them in their 2-1 (17-21, 21-13, 15-11) semifinal against seventh-seeded Mayu Sawame & Wakana Akishige of Japan. In the all-Filipino gold medal showdown, Progella & Pagara achieved a 2-0 (21-18, 21-13) victory over their more experienced compatriots Rondina & Pons to celebrate not only their first gold, but also their first medal of any color on the Beach Pro Tour.
Third-seeded Rondina & Pons squeezed out a tight 2-0 (23-21, 21-19) sweep of their semifinal against second-seeded Australians Milutinovic & Rayner to secure their first Beach Pro Tour hardware as a team, and second for Rondina, who had claimed one gold medal back in 2022 at the Subic Bay Futures at home, in the Philippines.
Milutinovic & Rayner bounced back in the third-place match, snatching the bronze with a tough 2-1 (21-15, 20-22, 15-8) win, this way getting back at Sawame & Akishige for the loss they suffered in their pool final. It was the first podium for Milutinovic & Rayner as a pair, while each of them had already collected Tour medals with different partners.
26 women’s duos representing 12 different federations took part in the Busan Futures.
The next Futures stops on the Beach Pro Tour will be held in Tallinn, Estonia from August 19 to 22, and in Bujumbura, Burundi from August 19 to 23.
