Mexico’s Puerto Vallarta hosts its first FIVB Beach Volleyball Open

While it will be the first FIVB international event in Puerto Vallarta, it will be the fifth time the country has hosted a FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour event. It will be the second of six double-gender Open events on the 2014 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour schedule.

Previously, Acapulco had FIVB World Tour events in 1999, 2005 and 2006 and Rosarito Beach hosted a FIVB World Tour stop in 2000. In the first four events in Mexico, Brazil and the United States captured all but three of the 24 total medals.

Brazil leads the way winning 11 total medals (four gold medals, four silvers and three bronze) followed by the USA with 10 total medals (four gold, three silver and three bronze). Australia (two) and Norway (one) have won the other medals in the women’s competition.

By gender, Brazil has won seven men’s and four women’s medals and the USA has won five men’s and five women’s medals in the four previous events held in Mexico.

Puerto Vallarta is a Mexican seaside resort city located on the Pacific Ocean's Bahia de Banderas. The 2010 census reported Puerto Vallarta's population as 255,725 making it the second largest city in the state of Jalisco. The city of Puerto Vallarta is the government seat of the Municipality of Puerto Vallarta which comprises the city as well as population centers outside of the city extending from Boca de Tomatlán to the Nayarit state border (the Amerca River).

Puerto Vallarta's proximity to the Bay of Banderas, the agricultural valley of the Ameca River, and the important mining centers in the Sierra have given the town a more interesting past than most Mexican tourist destinations. Puerto Vallarta was a thriving Mexican village long before it became an international tourist destination. Tourism is now a major economic activity because of the climate, scenery, tropical beaches, and rich cultural history.

The nine FIVB Beach Volleyball Opens on the 2014 FIVB World Tour include six double-gender, one men-only and two women-only tournaments, adding numerous possibilities for athletes to compete in high quality, FIVB international competition. Over the course of the year more Open events could be added to the schedule, ensuring that all five Confederations will host an FIVB event in 2014.

The 2014 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.

BEACH VOLLEYBALL GETS SET FOR A BUMPER TOURNAMENT CALENDAR IN 2014

A record $10.2m in prize money, 10 Grand Slams, an inaugural FIVB Grand Slam Final and 11 Open tournaments are the highlights of a record-breaking 2014 beach volleyball calendar.

With the aim of providing athletes with more opportunities to participate, the FIVB confirmed a total of nine double-gender Grand Slams - with another Grand Slam to be added - for the 2014 season, supplemented by a further six double-gender and five single-gender Open tournaments, which represents a significant increase on the 10 Grand Slams and four Open tournaments which featured along with the World Championships in 2013 and carried total prize money of $6.4m. The previous record prize money for a season was $7.5m in 2011.

For the first time in FIVB history, two of the Grand Slams (which ones are still to be confirmed) will have a prize pot of $1m, while the other eight will feature a total purse of $800,000 – nearly double the prize money of $440,000 on offer for Grand Slams in 2013.

When the 2014 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour kicks off at the Fuzhou Open in China on April 22, the race will be on to see who will be crowned kings and queens of the sand.

Beach volleyball’s stars will be out to pick up as many points as possible from the Grand Slam and Open tournaments as they strive to follow in the footsteps of 2013 female winners Talita Antunes and Taiana Lima from Brazil and Latvian male champions Janis Smedins and Aleksandrs Samoilovs.

The tournaments will spread across the five continents and take the sport to all areas of the globe before they conclude with the Durban Open on the shores of South Africa’s Indian Ocean from December 9 to 14.

If 2014 is anything like 2013, athletes and supporters alike will be in for another memorable season.