Mexico’s Puerto Vallarta hosting third FIVB Beach Volleyball Open

Giving the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) a continuing cycle of events in North America the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour calendar lists a 2016 return to Mexico for the third straight year for the double-gender $150,000 FIVB Puerto Vallarta Open. The Puerto Vallarta Open will be held Oct. 11-16. There have been 14 FIVB World Tour events held in Mexico, seven for each gender.

Prior to the last two years' Puerto Vallarta events, Acapulco had FIVB World Tour events in 1999, 2005 and 2006 and Rosarito Beach hosted a FIVB World Tour stop in 2000. In 2014, Acapulco returned to the FIVB international calendar, hosting the inaugural FIVB Beach Volleyball U17 World Championships, one of four age-group world championships held every other year by the FIVB.

The 2016 FIVB Puerto Vallarta Open will be the second event after the FIVB World Tour resumes following the 2016 Rio Olympic Games in Brazil. The first event on the 2016 FIVB World Tour was the FIVB Puerto Vallarta Open held last October as the first of three events on the 2016 schedule held in 2015.

At the FIVB Puerto Vallarta Open last October winning men’s gold was USA’s Phil Dalhausser/Nick Lucena while topping the women’s podium was Germany’s Laura Ludwig/Kira Walkenhorst.

Through the 2015 event, the Mexico has hosted a total of 12 FIVB World Tour events (6 men, 6 women) with Brazil is tied for the lead in the medal count for men and leads the women.  In the men’s totals after 6 events in Mexico, Brazil leads with seven followed by the USA with six medals and with one men’s medal each in Mexico are Germany, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands and Mexico.

After 6 FIVB World Tour women’s events held in the Mexico through 2015, Brazil leads the medal parade with seven total medals followed by the USA with five, Australia with two and with one women’s medal each in Mexico are Germany, China, Italy and Norway.

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

Puerto Vallarta is a Mexican 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 rRiver, 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 was a major economic activity because of the climate, scenery, tropical beaches, and rich cultural history. For a sense of the extent even of the city's modern history, note that Puerto Vallarta and Seattle (United States) were founded in the same year, 1851

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 2016 Rio Olympic Games in Brazil.

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.