2016 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Xiamen Open

The 2016 FIVB (International Volleyball Federation) Beach Volleyball World Tour Xiamen Open will kick off on April 12 and run till April 17 at Xiamen's Guanyinshan Golden Beach. The finals for the men's and women's competitions will be played on the afternoons of the 16th and 17th respectively. All the competitions are free for visitor's to watch.

87 men's teams and 56 women's teams from 37 countries will compete in the tournament. The competition is part of the road to Rio with FIVB World Tour events counting towards Olympic rankings which determine 15 of the 24 spots for each of the men's and women's teams that compete in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

USA's multiple Olympic winning Kerri Walsh Jennings and a number of renowned players from Canada, USA, Latvia, Germany and Italy will come to Xiamen to take part in the games. In addition, Xue Chen, the champion of the just concluded Asian Championship will participate in the competition for the first time since she missed last year's Xiamen Open due to injury. National Games’ champion Chen Cheng and Zhang Lizeng will play in the games on behalf of Chinese men's team. A total of$150,000 in prize money is at stake for the winning teams in the FIVB Xiamen Open.

Alongside the competition, there will be some entertainment to spice things up: there will be a "Beach Babes" performance and Air Ballet, a stunt kite show. Additionally, there will be some interactive games organized by the host that will let visitors and beach volleyball enthusiasts mix with the top players.
China hosted 53 FIVB World Tour events during 2015, including 22 men’s and 31 women’s tournaments. Host country China has won 19 medals, including two men’s silver medals, six women’s gold medals, seven women’s silver medals, and five women’s bronze medals.