FIVB Beach Volleyball Grand Slam heading to Moscow once again

The FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour returns to Russia from June 10 to 15 for the double-gender FIVB Moscow Grand Slam. With the FIVB Anapa Open held first this year, the Moscow event will mark the 15th time for a men’s competition in Russia and the13th women’s tournament held in this expansive country. The 2014 event will be the ninth FIVB World Tour event held in Moscow (sixth straight year) as the initial events were men’s-only Opens in 1998 and 1999.

Moscow is one of three Russian cities to host a FIVB beach volleyball international event joining Anapa and St. Petersburg. Also part of the 2014 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour, the double-gender FIVB Anapa Open will be held May 27-June 1. This year’s FIVB Moscow Grand Slam starts a string of seven FIVB Grand Slams to be held over an eight-week window.

To date Russia has hosted a total of 24 FIVB World Tour events (13 men, 11 women) with Brazil leading the medal count in both genders. In the men’s totals, Brazil has 15, followed by Germany with six, USA with five, Russia with three and China, the Netherlands and Switzerland with two each. With one men’s medal in Russia are Argentina, Latvia, Norway and Portugal.

After 11 FIVB World Tour women’s events held in Russia, Brazil leads the medal parade with 13 total medals followed by the USA with eight, China with six, Germany and Russia with two each and Spain with one.

The men’s champion duo at the 2013 FIVB Moscow Grand Slam was Latvia’s Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Janis Smedins while Brazilian sisters Carolina Salgado/Maria Clara Salgado took home the women’s gold.

Moscow is the capital and largest city in Russia and is the major political, economic, cultural and scientific center in the country and in Eurasia. It has the largest community of billionaires and is the northernmost megacity in the world. As the fifth largest city in the world with a population of over 11.5 million, Moscow is situated on the Moskva River in the Central Federal District of European Russia. It is also the site of the Moscow Kremlin, a medieval city-fortress that is today the residence of the Russian president and one of several World Heritage Sites in the city. Both chambers of the Russian parliament also sit in Moscow.

The 2014 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour will include 10 double-gender FIVB Grand Slam tournaments along with the inaugural FIVB Grand Slam and eleven FIVB Beach Volleyball Open events.

This year’s FIVB World Ranking system will include FIVB Beach Volleyball Grand Slam and 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 – whether FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships, FIVB Beach Volleyball Grand Slam or FIVB Beach Volleyball Open – are the same, featuring pool play followed by single elimination knockout rounds.

The 2014-2016 FIVB Beach Volleyball Continental Cup also returns this year as it starts its portion of the qualification process for the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games.