Sochi added to FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour 2015 calendar

One of six new venues on the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour 2015 calendar, Sochi, Russia will host the double-gender FIVB Sochi Open from September 8 to 13. It will mark the 16th time a men’s competition and 14th time a women’s competition will be held in Russia.

A total of 28 previous FIVB World Tour events have been staged in Russia, but this will be the first event held in Sochi. The other Russian cities to have hosted a FIVB World Tour event are Anapa, Moscow and St. Petersburg. This year’s FIVB Moscow Grand Slam will be held from May 26 to 31.

Up until 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 USA with six each, Russia with five, Switzerland with three and China, Latvia and the Netherlands with two each. With one men’s medal are Argentina, Norway, Poland, Portugal and Spain.

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

The men’s champions from 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, a new FIVB Swatch Beach Volleyball 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 2015 FIVB World Tour 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 World Continental Cup also returns this year as it starts its portion of the qualification process for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games in Brazil.

Sochi is a city in Krasnodar Krai, Russia, located on the Black Sea coast near the border between Georgia and Russia. The Greater Sochi area, which includes territories and localities subordinated to Sochi proper, has a total area of 3,526 square kilometers (1,361 sq mi) and sprawls for 145 kilometers (90 mi) along the shores of the Black Sea near the Caucasus Mountains. The city had a permanent population of 343,334 making it Russia's largest resort city. Being part of the Caucasian Riviera, it is one of the very few places in Russia with a subtropical climate, with warm to hot summers and mild winters.

With the alpine and Nordic events held at the nearby ski resort of Roza Khutor, Sochi hosted the XXII Olympic Winter Games in 2014, as well as the Russian Formula 1 Grand Prix from 2014 until at least 2020. It will also be one of the host cities for the 2018 FIFA World Cup