Lausanne, Switzerland, January 11, 2017 - China will present the single-gender women’s FIVB Nantong 2-star tournament from June 23 to 25. It will be the first time that Nantong has hosted an FIVB World Tour event. Overall, China has hosted 57 total FIVB World Tour events.
In addition to the women’s FIVB Nantong 2-Star event, the other stops scheduled in China in 2017 on the FIVB World Tour will be the double-gender FIVB Xiamen 3-Star open on April 20-23, and the women’s FIVB Nanjing 2-star open on June 16-18. China will also host the FIVB U-21 Beach Volleyball World Championships in Nanjing on June 13-18. The double-gender FIVB Qinzhou 3-star Open from October 11-15 will be part of the 2018 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour.
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Latest VideosFacebookTwitterInstagramMedia Guides Nantong is one of 11 Chinese cities that has hosted an international FIVB beach volleyball event. Others have been Beijing, Dalian, Fuzhou, Lianyungang, Maoming, Qinzhou, Sanya, Shanghai, Tangshan Jiangning and Xiamen.
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 the Netherlands with three each and with one each women’s medals in China are Argentina, Canada, Italy, Norway and Spain.
Nantong is a prefecture-level city in the Jiangsu province of China. Nantong is located on the northern bank of the Yangtze River, near the river mouth. Nantong is a vital river port bordering Yancheng to the north, Taizhou to the west, Suzhou and Shanghai to the south across the river, and the East China Sea to the east. The population of Nantong is over 7 million, nearly 2 million of whom live in the built-up area made up of three urban districts.
The prosperity of Nantong has traditionally depended on salt production on the nearby seacoast, rice and cotton agriculture, and especially the production of cotton textiles. A local statesman and industrialist named Zhang Jian founded Nantong's first modern cotton mills in 1899. He then developed an industrial complex that included flour, oil, and silk reeling mills, a distillery, and a machinery shop. He also founded a shipping line and reclaimed saline agricultural land to the east of Nantong for cotton production. Thanks to these efforts, by 1911 Nantong was commonly called "Zhang Jian's Kingdom".
Although the city took a blow from the economic depression of the 1930s, as well as the Japanese occupation of the 1930s and 40s, Nantong has remained an important centre for the textile industry. Because of its deep-water harbour and connections to inland navigational canals, it was one of 14 port cities opened to foreign investment in recent Chinese economic reforms.
A 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 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 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.