Lausanne, Switzerland, October 2, 2013 – Leading European nation Germany and traditional powerhouse Brazil will enjoy the largest number of teams at the FIVB Xiamen Grand Slam after the National Federation Entry Lists were announced on Wednesday.
Both countries’ Federations will provide three teams apiece in both the men’s and women’s draws.
German men’s and women’s teams are seeking to finally win their first FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour golds of the season to add to a number of silver and bronze medals this year.
Brazil women have dominated the World Tour so far with their teams claiming gold in six of the eight Grand Slams in 2013. The men have been nearly as successful with victory in three tournaments.
Host nation China also provide three men’s and women’s teams with the 2013 FIVB Beach Volleyball world champions Chen Xue and Zhang Xi likely to be one of the leading female pairings.
The Confirmed NF Entry List determines the NF berth (s) earned in the tournament, while athletes/ teams are ranked in Main Draw and Qualification Tournament according to their Entry Points.
The final entry list and actually seeding for the tournament will be updated following the Technical Meeting on the eve of the tournament. The seeding will be based on the sum of the individual rankings taking into consideration the status as at -21 days.
The Xiamen Grand Slam which runs from October 22-27 is the 10th and final Grand Slam of 2013 on the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour and was recently promoted from an all-female Open Tournament. This year’s tournament calendar also included the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships in Stare Jablonki, Poland which ran from July 1 to 7.
The distribution of national federation vacancies in the Main Draw, Qualification and Reserve lists are based on federation ranking points which take into consideration the best six-out- of-the-last-eight results dating back 365 days on a player by player basis for the respective country.