FIVB Beach Volleyball Grand Slam heading to Moscow once again

The FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour returns to Russia from May 26 to 31 for the double-gender FIVB Moscow Grand Slam. The Moscow event will mark the 16th time for a men’s competition in Russia and 14th women’s tournament held in this expansive country. The 2015 event will be the 10th FIVB World Tour event held in Moscow (seventh straight year) as the initial events were men’s-only Opens in 1998 and 1999.

There will again be a second FIVB World Tour event in Russia, with the inaugural FIVB Sochi Open being held from September 8 to 13.

Moscow is one of three Russian cities to host a FIVB beach volleyball international event joining Anapa and St. Petersburg. This year’s FIVB Moscow Grand Slam will be the first of five FIVB Grand Slam events with a total purse of $800,000 each.

Moscow is the capital and largest city in Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural and scientific center in Russia and in Eurasia. Moscow is the northernmost megacity in the world and fifth largest city proper in the world with a population of over 11.5 million.  It is situated on the Moskva River in the Central Federal District of European Russia and is the site of the Moscow Kremlin, a medieval city-fortress that is today the residence of the Russian president. The Moscow Kremlin is also one of several World Heritage Sites in the city. Both chambers of the Russian parliament also sit in Moscow.

Through 2014, Russia has hosted a total of 28 FIVB World Tour events (15 men, 13 women) with Brazil leading the medal count in both genders.  In the men’s totals after 15 events, Brazil has 14 medals, followed by Germany and the USA with six each, Russia with five, Switzerland with three and China , Latvia and the Netherlands with two each. With one men’s medal in Russia are Argentina, Norway, Poland, Portugal and Spain.

After 13 FIVB World Tour women’s events held in Russia through last year, Brazil leads the medal parade with 14 total medals followed by the USA with nine, China with six, Germany and Russia with four each. Netherlands and Spain have one medal each.

The men’s championship team of the 2014 FIVB Moscow Grand Slam was Russia’s own Konstantin Semenov/Viacheslav Krasilnokov while winning the 2014 women’s gold medal in Moscow was USA Olympians Kerri Walsh Jennings/April Ross.

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 Swatch Beach Volleyball 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.

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.