Lausanne, Switzerland, February 27, 2017 – Australia’s beach volleyball community is gearing up for the biggest month to hit the sport in the Land Down Under since the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.
First up is the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Shepparton one-star event in Victoria that runs from March 4-5. Preparations are already well underway at Victoria Park Lake Precinct which is hosting the event.
The event heralds the return of top level international beach volleyball events to Australia - Sydney 2000 led the way for iconic venues by taking place on Bondi Beach in a 10,000-capacity stadium, where Kerri Pottharst and Natalie Cook won women’s gold.
Two temporary purpose-built courts and a warm-up court are being constructed as well as a 600-seat grandstand and fans can see how preparations are coming along on Volleyball Australia’s facebook page.
Once the tournament in Shepparton has wrapped all eyes will turn to Australia’s largest city Sydney which will host 10 days of beach volleyball action on the world famous Manly Beach.
From March 17-19, Manly plays host to an FIVB women’s-only two-star tournament from March 17-19. The tournament will be followed by a four-nations invitational on March 21 and 22 and will then be wrapped up with three days of the Australian Beach Volleyball Finals from March 24-26.
As well as some great action on the courts the tournaments will give Australian sports fans a taste of what is to come at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games when beach volleyball makes its Games debut.
The five-star structure began with the 2017 FIVB World Tour and is one of the many steps taken by the FIVB to modernise and streamline its competitions in a golden period for beach volleyball on the heels of Rio 2016 and on the road to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
The 2017 FIVB World Ranking system will include FIVB Beach Volleyball Major Series, 5-star, 4-star, 3-star, 2-star and 1-star events along with additional pre-approved events at the inter-continental, continental and national levels.
For more information on beach volleyball events in Australia and how to buy tickets, visit
www.volleyballaustralia.org.