Russia to host Moscow Grand Slam

The FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour returns to Russia from May 24-29 for the double-gender FIVB Moscow Grand Slam. The Moscow event will mark the 19th time for a men’s competition in Russia and 17th women’s tournament held in this expansive country. The 2016 event will be the 11th FIVB World Tour event held in Moscow (eighth straight year).

A total of 32 previous FIVB World Tour events have been staged in Russia through 2015. Besides Moscow, the other Russian cities that have hosted a FIVB World Tour event are Anapa, Sochi and St. Petersburg. Before going to Moscow, the first scheduled FIVB World Tour event in Russia this year will be the FIVB Sochi Open on May 3-8.

The first men’s FIVB World Tour event was played February 17-22, 1987 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil while the first women’s FIVB World Tour event in Brazil was played in 1993 in Rio de Janeiro. The women’s FIVB World Tour held its first tournament in Spain in 1992.

Through 2015, Russia has hosted a total of 32 FIVB World Tour events (17 men, 15 women) with Brazil leading the medal count in both genders. In the men’s totals after 17 events, Brazil has 15 medals, followed by Germany and the USA with seven each, Russia with five, Latvia and Switzerland with three each and China, Netherlands and Spain with two each. With one men’s medal in Russia are Argentina, Italy, Norway, Poland and Portugal.

After 15 FIVB World Tour women’s events held in Russia through the 2015 season, Brazil leads the medal parade with 15 total medals followed by the USA with nine, China with six, Germany and Russia with four each. Italy, Netherlands and Switzerland have two each and Spain has one medal.

Men’s championship team of the 2015 FIVB Moscow Grand Slam was Spain’s Adrian Gavira/Pablo Herrera while winning the 2015 women’s gold medal in Moscow was Brazil’s Talita Antunes/Larissa Franca.

The 2015/2016 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour calendar began with three Open events at the end of 2015. The remainder of the 2015/2016 calendar will include multiple FIVB Open and multiple FIVB Grand Slam events along with more Swatch FIVB Major Series events, and the second Swatch FIVB World Tour Finals. The highlight of the calendar will be the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil featuring 24 teams in each gender.

Moscow is the capital and largest city in Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural and scientific center in Russia and in Eurasia. Moscow has the largest community of billionaires in the world. Moscow is the northernmost megacity in the world and fifth largest city proper 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 the site of the Moscow Kremlin, a medieval city-fortress that is today the residence of the Russian president. The Moscow Kremlin is also one of several World Heritage Sites in the city. Both chambers of the Russian parliament also sit in Moscow.

The event continues the Road to Rio that lasts until June 13, 2016 with FIVB World Tour events counting towards the Olympic Ranking in order to determine the 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 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. While the FIVB World Championships had 48 teams, all other tournaments have 32 teams and begin with a qualification tournament in each gender to determine the final eight teams in the main draw fields.

Country quota playoffs are also held, as needed, to determine the final teams for qualification tournaments.

The 2014-2016 FIVB Beach Volleyball Continental Cup is back again this year as it completes its portion of the qualification process for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil.