The top-seeded pair cruised through five matches undefeated, marking a historic breakthrough for the country’s national program on the international circuit.
Historic Gold Medal Run in Qidong
Experience and tactical composure paid off on Sunday in China as Aliaksandr Dziadkou and Pavel Piatrushka secured Belarus’s first ever match on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour, turning a milestone tournament appearance into a historic championship title. Competing at their third event on the current tour circuit, the 36-year-old Dziadkou and 32-year-old Piatrushka navigated the entire bracket without a single loss across five matches.
According to tournament results from Qidong, the top-seeded Belarusian duo faced 11th-seeded Australians Solomon Bushby and Justin Schumann in the semifinal round, securing a straight-sets victory of 2-0 (21-16, 21-17). That momentum carried directly into the gold medal match, where Dziadkou and Piatrushka defeated third-seeded Germans Charlie Peters and Colin Alexander Paszkiewicz by another 2-0 margin (21-18, 21-17).
International Podiums and Fierce Playoff Battles
While the Belarusian team claimed the top step of the men’s podium, the silver and bronze medals were settled through equally demanding matches. Germany’s Charlie Peters and 19-year-old teenager Colin Alexander Paszkiewicz settled for silver after a strong tournament run. The Qidong final marked the first silver on the Beach Pro Tour for the German duo, who previously collected bronze medals this season at the Ios Futures in June and the Lagihna Beach Futures just a week prior.
In the battle for bronze, Greece’s Stavros Ntallas and Dimitrios Chatzinikolaou outlasted Australia’s Bushby and Schumann in a nail-biting three-set playoff ending 2-1 (23-21, 20-22, 18-16). Match organizers noted that this result gave the Greek pair their second consecutive Beach Pro Tour medal and their first podium finish outside Greece, following a silver-medal finish at the Ios Futures.
Chinese Women Sweep the Home Bracket
The women’s tournament in Qidong featured total dominance by Chinese home teams, who swept every spot on the podium. Jiang Kaiyue and Zhou Mingli captured first place, Kadeliye Halaiti and Qi Siyu finished in second, and Zhuang Ming and Wang Jiaying rounded out the medals in third place, according to the final standings published by event organizers.
Building on Past World Tour Experience
The triumph in China represents a significant elevation for the Belarusian men’s national program. Prior to breaking through on the Beach Pro Tour, Dziadkou and Piatrushka built their partnership competing together on the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour from 2019 to 2021, where they collected two golds and a bronze.
Sports analysts covering the international circuit point out that breakthrough victories of this magnitude typically trigger increased institutional support and youth participation back home. With the Qidong title secured, Dziadkou and Piatrushka will turn their attention to upcoming stops on the global calendar, carrying higher seeding and heightened expectations from federation officials as they manage their physical conditioning through the ongoing qualification window.
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