Women returning to Czech Republic for FIVB Beach Volleyball Open

The FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour will return to the Czech Republic for the single-gender FIVB Prague Open to be held from May 20 to 24. While it will be the sixth all-time FIVB World Tour event in Prague, it will be the second time the city and the country have hosted a women’s FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour competition. It will also be the only women-only FIVB Open event on the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour 2015 schedule.

Previously, Prague had FIVB World Tour Open men’s events in 2008, 2010, 2011 and 2012. In the first four events in Prague, Brazil and the United States captured all but three of the 12 total medals. The Czech Republic has also held four FIVB Challenger men’s events, three in Brno and one in Karlovy Vary.

The FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour 2015 calendar will include five FIVB Grand Slams, the new FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch Major Series of three events, six FIVB Opens and a special FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch Season Final in the United States.

The showcase event will be the $1 million FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships The Netherlands 2015.

A total of 14 countries will host events this year as the FIVB World Tour 2015 also begins the Olympic qualification process with all FIVB World Tour events (except the World Tour Finals) in 2015 up until June 13, 2016 counting towards the Olympic Ranking in order to determine the 15 vacancies for each gender that will take part in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.

As it has in so many venues, Brazil leads the way in Prague, winning five total men’s medals (two gold medals, one silvers and two bronze) followed by the USA with four total medals (two gold, one silver and one bronze medal). The other medals have been won by men’s teams from Germany (two--one silver, one bronze) and Switzerland (one--bronze).

In last year’s FIVB Prague Open, Czech Olympians Kristyna Kulovcova/Marketa Slukova won the first women’s FIVB gold medal for the country in FIVB World Tour history. Silver and bronze both went to teams from Germany — Katrin Holtwick/Ilka Semmeler and Laura Ludwig/Kira Walkenhorst respectively.

With a population of over 1.2 million, Prague is situated on the River Vltava in central Bohemia and has been the political, cultural, and economic center of the Czech state for over 1,100 years. Prague is widely considered to be one of the most beautiful cities in Europe and is among the most visited cities on the continent.

Founded during the Romanesque and flourishing by the Gothic and Renaissance eras, Prague was not only the capital of the Czech state, but also the seat of two Holy Roman Emperors and thus also the capital of the Holy Roman Empire. It was an important city to the Habsburg Monarchy and its Austro-Hungarian Empire. After World War I became the capital of Czechoslovakia. The city played major roles in the Protestant Reformation, the Thirty Years’ War, and in 20th-century history, during both World Wars and the post-war Communist era.

Since 1992, the historic center of Prague has been included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. Nicknames for Prague have included "the mother of cities", "city of a hundred spires" and "the golden city". Prague opera, theatre, sightseeing, restaurants & nightlife make this one of the most exciting cities in Central Europe.

The 2015 FIVB World Ranking system will again include FIVB Beach Volleyball Grand Slam and Open events along with additional pre-approved events at the inter-continental, continental and national levels.

Implemented in 2013, the format of all the FIVB Beach Volleyball international tournaments – whether FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships, FIVB Beach Volleyball Grand Slam or FIVB Beach Volleyball Open – are the same, featuring pool play followed by single elimination knockout rounds.

The 2014-2016 FIVB Beach Volleyball Continental Cup also returns this year as it starts its portion of the qualification process for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games in Brazil.