Ulsan, Korea, July 19, 2017 – After the Daegu stop last week, the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour 2017 will stay in Korea for another women’s one-star tournament, this time on the beautiful Jinha Beach in nearby Ulsan on the country’s eastern coast.
Starting on July 20 and running through July 22, this event will be the ninth World Tour stop in Korea, which has previously hosted seven women’s and one double-gender FIVB tournaments. After Pusan, Seoul and Daegu, Ulsan becomes the fourth venue in the country to welcome the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour.
16 pairs from 12 different countries – Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Germany, Israel, Japan, Korea (2), New Zealand (2), Thailand (2) and USA (2) – will take part in the single-elimination main draw. The first round is scheduled for Thursday with the first whistle to sound at 10:00 local time. The quarterfinals and the semifinals will take place on Friday. The medals will be distributed with the third-place match and the grand final on Saturday.
Thailand’s Varapatsorn Radarong and Tanarattha Udomchavee, who took silver from Daegu last weekend, top the main draw seeding in Ulsan.
England’s Victoria Palmer and Jessica Grimson, for whom this will be the sixth World Tour participation in 2017, will be seeded second. They have three ninth-place finishes so far, including Daegu.
The third seed goes to USA’s Betsi Flint and Kelley Larsen. After winning gold at the Jiangning, Nanjing event, Ulsan will be their second appearance on the 2017 World Tour.
Host country Korea gets the fourth seed on the main draw and it will be occupied by Ka-Yeon Kim and Hyunji Kim. They played in Daegu as well, but were eliminated in the first round.
Daegu champions Miki Ishii and Megumi Murakami from Japan will not be vying for a second Korean gold in Ulsan, as they opted to test their luck at the four-star tournament in Poland, but the bronze medallists Katerina Valkova and Diana Zolnercikova from the Czech Republic will be staying in Korea for the competition on Jinha Beach. The Czech pair are seeded 12th.