The FIVB Beach Volleyball world tour returns to Rio de Janeiro and it’s going to be hot!

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Reigning World Champions Alison/Bruno to compete again in Rio Photo Credit: Andreas Langreiter

This is the first huge beach volleyball sporting event of the year for Brazil, the FIVB Grand Slam, commences in the sunny, sultry city of Rio de Janeiro from 8-13 March. The world beach volleyball elite will be gathering to battle it out on the center court for the highly desired Olympic points. After the first FIVB World Tour event for the year kicked off in Kish with the men’s only Kish Island Open from 15-19 February where Qatar’s Jefferson Santos Pereira/Cherif Younousse took gold followed by the Maceio Open from 23-28 February where team “Duda” Lisboa/Maia conquered all.

The Grand Slam in Rio is the next prominent sporting event for the FIVB with a whopping total of $800 000 prize money. The event is also massive for the host nation and it can be seen as a real rehearsal for the 28^th Summer Olympic Games 2016 scheduled to take place from 5-21 August (beach volleyball taking place from 6-18 August at the picturesque Copacabana Beach).

Expect to see all the big names on the beach volleyball scene participate as the Olympics draw closer, deadlines to qualify for a spot approaches, and practice in the host nation is an opportunity few would pass up.  Eduarda “Duda” Lisboa and Elize Maia are up for the challenge and will be present in Rio, the question is: will they match their Maceio performance?

Competitors have until 13 June to participate in events that will count toward their Olympic Ranking. The Grand Slam will follow the standard format of teams according to gender, divided into pools which will be followed by single elimination knockout rounds. The Olympic ranking will be used to determine who qualifies for the 15 of 24 total spots. Time’s a ticking and this event may as well be the difference between competing for Olympic gold and watching the players who qualified from television at home. For a detailed list of who’s competing click: Men | Women.

On another note, it is an opportunity for fans to bid farewell to Brazilian volleyball legend Emanuel Fernando as he closes the curtain on his sporting career.  It looks like this Grand Slam will be one for the history books. Good luck to everyone.

Interesting fact: The FIVB World Tour Grand Slam in Rio will be the 70^th FIVB World Tour event to be hosted in the South American country and the 24^th event in Rio. Brazil certainly has the home advantage with a total of 119 medals won across both genders (63 men, 56 women), topping the United States (second place with 24 men and 28 women) by an astounding 67 medals for beach volleyball events hosted in the country.