2016-01-26 17:00:00 CEST
The stars of the 2015-16 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour will return to action in one month when the Kish Open takes place from February 15-19.
Markus Böckermann and Lars Flüggen (here at Poreč Major) also won the Doha Open last year. Photo credit: Tomislav Moze
It is the first time that Iran has hosted a World Tour event and excitement and interest is already growing in the men-only tournament that will mark the start of the countdown to the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games.
The venue is Kish Island, a 91.5-square-kilometer (35.3 square miles) resort island in the Gulf, a consumer's paradise, with numerous malls, shopping centres, tourist attractions, and resort hotels. It has an estimated population of 26,000 residents and about one million people visit the island annually.
Leading the way among the entered teams are Markus Bockermann and Lars Fluggen, who won the Qatar Open in November 2015, the most recent tournament on the World Tour.
The German duo capped an impressive 2015 with their victory in Qatar to ensure they finished the year with two World Tour gold and two silver medals and the challenge will be to keep up their great form in the Olympic year.
Pushing them hard will be another team that finished on the Qatar Open podium; the USA’s John Hyden and Tri Bourne who won bronze in Doha to end a wait for a World Tour medal that stretched back to the 2014 Berlin Grand Slam.
The host nation meanwhile has entered seven teams of their own, led by Bahman Salemiinjehboroun and Rahman Raoufi.
The event resumes the road to Rio 2016 that continues until June 13, 2016 with FIVB World Tour events counting towards the Olympic Ranking in order to determine 15 of 24 spots for each gender that will take part in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
The 2016 FIVB World Ranking system will again include FIVB Beach Volleyball Grand Slam and Open events along with additional pre-approved events at intercontinental, continental and national levels.