Prague, Czech Republic, May 20, 2014 – Germany’s Victoria Bieneck and Julia Grossner are the top seeded team in the qualification tournament at the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Prague Open. With 25 other teams they will compete on Wednesday for eight spots in main draw.
Bieneck, the 2013 U23 world champion, and Grossner had a 17th and 25th place finish in Fuzhou and Shanghai so far this year. In Prague they will start with a bye in qualification. If they win their second round match and make it to the last eight, they will be the fourth German team in main draw.
The qualification field also features the U21 world champions Jagoda Gruszczynska and Katarzyna Kociolek from Poland, but both playing with a different partner, and World Tour debutants Angela Lobato and Paula Soria from Spain.
Qualification matches will begin at 10.00 with the last matches played at 17.00. On Thursday main draw starts with two days of pool play. The final 24 teams continue with single elimination on Saturday, with the semi-finals and finals being held on Sunday.
The FIVB Prague Open beach courts and stadium are situated on Stvanice Island in the middle of the Vltava River. The sports complex is also used for the yearly ATP and WTA tennis tournaments.
Stvanice Island has been a place of sport for many years. It got its name at the end of the 17th century when a wooden arena was erected in which dog hunts at animals were held. Stvanice means hunt.
The US$75,000 Prague Open is the third Open and the fourth World Tour event on the 2014 calendar, but the first and sole women’s only tournament this year.
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