Nantong, China, April 14, 2017 – Nantong gears up for their first ever hosting of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour – the second stop of the Beach Volleyball Silk Tour – highlighting the city’s gorgeous landscape and rich tradition in sports.
The Silk Tour features the cities of Nanjing and Nantong as hosts of two-star women-only beach volleyball events. The first stop of the Silk Tour will be at Nanjing from June 16 to 18, followed by the Nantong event from June 23 to 25.
Nantong is a prefecture-level city in the Jiangsu province of China, and is located on the northern bank of the Yangtze River. It is a vital river port bordering Yangchen to the north, Taizhou to the west, Suzhou and Shanghai to the south across the river, and the East China Sea to the east.
“Nantong is traditionally a sports city,” Nantong Sports Bureau deputy director Jiang Haiquan said. “We have produced a lot of gold medallists in the past seven editions of the Olympic Games. We have a rich volleyball tradition and we have produced talents like volleyball players Zhang Jieyun and Chen Zhan, and beach volleyball players Zhang Xi and Wu Penghai.
“This is our first time to host an FIVB World Tour, but we will use this opportunity to promote the city and Nantong beach volleyball to the world. We promise to give everyone a fantastic beach volleyball feast.”
Deputy director Jiang accompanied the FIVB Beach Volleyball Department's Yu Cao, FIVB Beach Volleyball commission member and China Volleyball Association representative Liu Bing, Jiangsu Sports Administration representatives, and co-promoters Jiangsu Fountask and All Win Fun for the inspection of the River-side Park, which will be the venue for the three-day tournament.
“Nantong as well as the promoter Jiangsu Fountask have done a productive planning and preparation for the event in terms of venue planning and promotion,” Yu Cao said.
“We will send our best teams to the event,” Liu Bing said. “We will help out in launching a good promotions plan and even appoint Beijing 2008 bronze medallist and 2013 Stare Jablonki world champion Zhang Xi as tournament ambassador.”
The team will continue its visit to Nanjing from April 14 to 17 to oversee preparations for the Silk Tour and the 2017 FIVB Beach Volleyball U21 World Championships, which will take place from July 11 to 16.
China continues its great tradition of hosting World Tour events, with already 57 events hosted in previous seasons. The Asian country will also host other stops, including the double-gender FIVB Xiamen event from April 20 to 23 and the Qinzhou event from October 11 to 15, which is part of the 2018 World Tour calendar.