International beach volleyball tournament flagged off in Visakhapatnam

The Federation International de Volleyball (FIVB) Beach Volleyball World Tour, Visakhapatnam began on Thursday morning. The four-day long tournament, being held at RK Beach, kicked off with warm-up matches the previous evening.

Volleyball Federation President, P.G.V.R.Naidu, said that the tournament will enhance the image of the city and add to its tourism potential. He also added that the city has been selected as a host for this tournament for building beach sports facilities under the Smart City Project in Visakhapatnam.

It is deemed as a proud moment for India, and Vizag particularly, as this is the first time that an international-level beach volleyball competition is being hosted in the country. Prior to this, Chennai had hosted the FIVB men’s and women’s Challenger/Satellite stops in 2008 and 2010 respectively. For FIVB, this is the 50th global competition.

56 teams, from several countries, are participating in the tournament. This includes 28 men teams prominently from Canada, Germany, Norway, Poland, Ukraine, Qatar, and Latvia as well as 28 women teams prominently from  Austria, Denmark, Israel, Japan, South Africa, USA, Russia, Singapore, and the Czech Republic.

The qualifying matches are being on Thursday, 28 February. These start in the morning and continue till 9 PM. Subsequently, the main draw matches will begin from Friday, 1 March. The draw matches will be played from 1 March to 3 March.

A stadium decked up with floodlights, that can accommodate nearly 5,000 spectators, has been set up on the RK beach near Gokul Park.

The International Volleyball Federation, Volleyball Federation of India, and A.P. and Vizag Volleyball Associations have collaborated for conducting the beach volleyball tournament. It is being promoted by Leisure Sports Management.