South Africa hosting double-gender FIVB Durban Open in December

The finale of the new order of FIVB beach volleyball event structure, a double-gender Open event will be held in South Africa. The fifth and final double-gender Open tournament in 2013, the 2013 FIVB Beach Volleyball Durban Open will be held from December 11 to 15.

South Africa has hosted one women’s and three men’s FIVB tournaments, and the only previous event in Durban was a men’s open event on the FIVB World Tour held in 1996, with Brazil’s Rogerio Ferreira/Guilherme Marques winning the gold medal over USA’s 1996 Olympic silver medalists Mike Dodd/Mike Whitmarsh.

The men’s FIVB World Tour has played three times in Cape Town (1995, 2004, 2005) although the only double-gender event was the 2005 tournament.

Winning the Cape Town men’s gold medal in South Africa in 2005 was Brazil’s Marcio Arujo/Fabio Luiz Magalhaes over Switzerland’s Markus Egger/Martin Laciga while the women’s gold medal was won by USA’s Misty May-Treanor/Kerri Walsh-Jennings over Brazil’s Juliana/Larissa.

With a guaranteed purse of US$75,000 per gender, the bonus pool will push the total purse for the event to nearly $120,000 per gender.

As part of a new development strategy focused on the new Olympic cycle, the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Council decided that FIVB Beach Volleyball Opens would no longer be part of the World Tour in 2013, putting in place an intermediate property that provides more opportunities for athletes worldwide to play.

With a total of eight FIVB Beach Volleyball Opens currently on the 2013 calendar comprised of five double-gender and three women-only tournaments, there are numerous possibilities for athletes to compete in high quality, international competition. Over the course of the year more Open events could be added to the schedule, ensuring that all five Confederations will host a FIVB event in 2013.

The 2013 FIVB World Ranking system will include Beach Volleyball events at inter-continental, continental and national levels. In another significant change, the format of all the tournaments – whether FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships, FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Grand Slam or a FIVB Beach Volleyball Open – will be the same, featuring pool play followed by single elimination rounds.