Lausanne, Switzerland, November 30, 2016 - China will again present a double-gender FIVB Xiamen 3-Star event on April 20-23. It will be the fifth consecutive year that Xiamen has hosted a FIVB World Tour event.
China will also host the FIVB U-21 World Championships in Nanjing from July 11 to 16 and a 3-star World Tour event in Qinzhou from October 11 to 15..
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Latest VideosFacebookTwitterInstagramMedia GuidesMen’s champion duo in Xiamen last year was Spain’s Adrian Gavira/Pablo Herrera while women’s champion team last year in Xiamen was Switzerland’s Isabelle Forrer/Anouk Verge-Depre.
Xiamen is one of eight Chinese cities to host an international FIVB beach volleyball event. Others have been Beijing, Dalian, Fuzhou, Lianyungang, Maoming, Sanya and Shanghai.
The five-star structure instituted starting with the 2017 FIVB World Tour is one of the many steps taken by the FIVB to modernize and streamline its competitions in a golden period for beach volleyball on the heels of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and on the road to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
FIVB President Dr. Ary S. Graça F° said, “The aim of the new structure is to provide a platform and formation of events that increase the number of competitions in a growing number of hosting countries and create a sustainable business model while providing additional commercial flexibility and opportunities.”
China has hosted 57 FIVB World Tour events through 2016, including 24 men’s and 33 women’s tournaments. Host country China has won 19 previous medals on its country’s soil, including two men’s silver medals, six women’s gold medals, seven women’s silver medals, and five women’s bronze medals.
In the 24 FIVB men’s events through 2016, Brazil has the most men’s medals with 25, followed by the United States with 10, Germany with nine, Netherlands and Spain with five each, Switzerland with three, China and France with two each and with one each men’s medal in China have been Argentina, Austria, Italy, Latvia, Mexico and Russia.
Through 33 FIVB women’s events in China through 2016, Brazil leads the medals race with 29 total followed by the United States with 25, China with 17, Germany with 10, Switzerland with five, Australia with four, Austria and Netherlands with three each and with one each women’s medals in China are Argentina, Canada, Italy, Norway and Spain.
Xiamen, also known as Amoy, is a major city on the southeast (Taiwan Strait) coast of the People's Republic of China. It is administered as a sub-provincial city of Fujian province with a population of 3.67 million.
Xiamen was a treaty port in the 19th century and one of the four original Special Economic Zones opened to foreign investment and trade when China began economic reforms in the early 1980s. In 2006, Xiamen was ranked as China's second "most suitable city for living", as well as China's "most romantic leisure city" in 2011.
The highlight of the 2017 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour calendar will be the 2017 FIVB World Championships, a 48-team (per gender) event to be held July 28-August 6 in Vienna, Austria.
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.
Implemented in 2013, the format of all the FIVB Beach Volleyball international tournaments are the same, featuring 32-team pool play followed by single elimination knockout rounds.
Country quota playoffs are also held, as needed, to determine the final teams for qualification tournaments.
The first men’s FIVB World Tour event was played February 17-22, 1987 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil while the first women’s FIVB World Tour event in Brazil was played in 1993 in Rio de Janeiro. The women’s FIVB World Tour held its first tournament in Spain in 1992.