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Dear Beach Volleyball Community


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See you @ the beach!

2016-04-14 16:38:00 CET

From Xiamen with love!

Get to know more about the city and tournament in China this week

Kerri Walsh Jennings and April Ross celebrate during the Swatch Beach Volleyball Major Series in Gstaad last year – but will they feel the love in Xiamen this week? Photo credit: Samo Vidic.Kerri Walsh Jennings and April Ross celebrate during the Swatch Beach Volleyball Major Series in Gstaad last year – but will they feel the love in Xiamen this week? Photo credit: Samo Vidic.

This week it’s the turn of the Xiamen Open to take center stage in the world of beach volleyball.

But ever wondered more about the tournament, the location and who’s been the best down the years? Well, here’s the what, where, how, why and who and all things Xiamen!

Well first of all, here’s the city in a nutshell:

  • Xiamen is situated in south west China
  • It has a population of over 3.5 million
  • In 2011 it was named China’s most romantic city!
  • It was ranked the second-most suitable city for living in 2006
  • Xiamen was controlled by the British Empire from the mid-19th century until 1912

Yeah cool, that all sounds great and thank you for the knowledge, but what about beach volleyball?!

Well the bustling metropolis of Xiamen is hosting its third successive Open this year having previously held the Xiamen Grand Slam in 2013.

As is the case in all beach volleyball tournaments a qualification stage is preceded by the pool stages and then knockout rounds – in total 96 teams will compete during the week.

The inaugural tournament – and indeed one and only (so far) – Xiamen Grand Slam saw Alison Cerutti and Vitor Felipe of Brazil claim gold in the men’s draw while April Ross and Kerri Walsh Jennings took the women’s honors.

A year later, in 2014 – in the Xiamen Open – French pair Youssef Krou and Edouard Rowlandson reigned supreme in the men’s game while Brazilians Maria Antontelli and Juliana Felisberta showcased their skills to become the women’s champions.

Last year, as you may have read already this week, Americans Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena clinched the men’s tournament and Swiss duo Joana Heidrich and Nadine Zumkehr celebrated finishing top of the podium in the women’s part of the competition.

There’s your run-down of past winners, but what you really want is some interesting facts. Don’t you?

Well here’s the stats you need to know to impress your friends…

  • In the history of the Xiamen Open no top seed has ever won the tournament
  • The best performance from a top seed came in 2014 when Wang and Tue of China finished second in the women’s draw
  • Wang and Tue’s silver medal two years ago is also the best performance by a Chinese team on home sand
  • That remains the only medal won by a Chinese team in the past three years of the tournament
  • The lowest-ranked seeded winners at Xiamen were Brazilians Cerutti and Felipe in the 2013 Grand Slam when they were seeded 10th
  • Brazil and the USA have won the most medals – three each in total
  • 12 different nations have taken home medals
  • Austrians Christoph Dressler and Thomas Kunert have appeared in all four beach volleyball tournaments in Xiamen – the only men’s team to do so
  • Argentine duo Ana Gallay and Georgina Klug are the only women to have competed at all four Xiamen tournaments

We hope those facts haven’t sent you to sleep but don’t worry we’re sure there will be more super stats to come out of the tournament after it reaches its exciting climax on Sunday!

But one thing is for sure, in China’s most romantic city, there will be love and heartache in equal measure. Thanks for having us Xiamen!

To follow the results on a daily basis, check the following links out:

Men’s results and schedule

Women’s result and schedule

And don’t forget to follow our own Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages too!

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