Lausanne, Switzerland, February 10, 2017 – Olympic beach volleyball athletes are heading to the second event of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour, as the top contenders in the men’s only Kish Island 3-Star event.
Rio 2016 Olympians Piotr Kantor and Bartosz Losiak of Poland, Markus Bockermann and Lars Fluggen of Germany, and 2016 Kish Island Open winner Cherif Younousse of Qatar playing with Júlio César Do Nascimento Júnior, will be the top billings in this year’s main draw.
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Latest VideosFacebookTwitterInstagramMedia GuidesKantor/Losiak are out to improve on their bronze medal finish at Kish Island in 2016 and since then have conquered the title at the FIVB Rio Grand Slam, and finished third at the FIVB Doha Open and the FIVB Moscow Grand Slam.
Losiak partnered with Michal Bryl for one event, the Klagenfurt Major, where they finished fourth. But he resumed play with partner Kantor in three big competitions – Rio 2016 Olympic Games, FIVB Long Beach Grand Slam and the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Finals in Toronto – wrapping up their 2016 season.
Bockermann/Fluggen also saw action in last year’s Kish Island Open and will attempt to improve on a fifth place finish. The German duo later made it to the podium with a silver medal at the FIVB Antalya Open in Turkey.
The Germans have shown their strength against their compatriots in the German Tour with a gold medal at Binz, bronze at Kuhlungsborn, then topped that off with another gold medal at the German Championship in Timmendorfer.
Cherif will hope to make a repeat of the Qatari team's superb performance in 2016 that led them to win their first ever FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour gold medal.
Cherif will bank on his Rio 2016 experience to outplay rivals in the exciting event, which will be held from February 15 to 18 at the Kish Marine Recreational/Sports Complex.