Buenos Aires, Argentina, October 17, 2014 – The Argentine city of Parana officially launched the sixth Open of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour 2014 at the National Tourism Ministry headquarters last Thursday.
Parana will host the next stage of the circuit, which runs from October 28 – November 2 at the Thompson Resort. With only three stages remaining following the stop in Argentina, the competition offers one of the last chances for teams to improve their standing in the World Tour ranking.
Executive Secretary of the Instituto Nacional de Promocion de Turismo (INPROTUR), Lic Roberto Palais; Parana City Hall President, Prof. Blanca Osuna; City Tourism Secretary, Carlos Monty and Executive Director of the Organization of the Open Venue in Parana and representative of the promoting Enterprise Turicentro, Dr. Marcos Marconi were all in attendance at the event.
Representing FeVA were the Competition Director Andres Soriano, the General Supervisor 2001 FIVB Beach Volleyball world champion Mariano Baracetti and the Press Director Martin De Rose.
Palais thanked Parana for organizing such an important event.
"INPROTUR will always support these kind of activities that also help to broadcast our country as an important tourism venue," he said.
Prof Osuna added to those sentiments and pointed out that welcoming a tournament with such a large draw can only help develop beach volleyball in the region.
“For the capital city of our Province Entre Rios, to have the chance of presenting such important international events are very important because they gather together sport with great organization, something very important for our development,” he reiterated. “Beach volleyball will be very useful to show our beautiful sightseeing in Parana River - a place we are in love with. The idea to enjoy its river sides, makes it an "open window" to the river. It will be a great party for our river and for sport.”
Turicentro, which has supported Argentinean volleyball for over 10 years through sponsorship of several FIVB Volleyball World League and World Grand Prix stages as well as the 2002 World Championship, will also support the event.
“The Parana Open Stop is possible thanks to the support of INPROTUR, Entre Rios Government, the city of Parana, the Argentine Volleyball Federation, the Entre Rios Volleyball Federation, the ENARD and the National Sport Secretariat,” Turicentro representative Marcos Marconi said. “We have this great chance because last year we held a Grand Slam from the FIVB World Tour in South America in the city of Corrientes and now players from 18 countries will travel to Argentina to compete and therefore we expect to have an event that joins sport and entertainment in outstanding scenery.”
For Mariano Baracetti, the tournament will provide a great opportunity for fans to see top-quality beach volleyball.
"It is a dream that Argentina keeps being part of the World Calendar,” he said. “It is very important for our players, for the country and for the world. Here we generate a great expectation on the athletes that want to keep growing. Argentina keeps working day after day with its coaching teams and a group of beach volleyball players - all belonging to the national team to keep growing and now, with the participation of Argentina hosting one stop of the FIVB World Tour, our reality is even more interesting and bigger.”
Argentina will enter six teams in each gender of the Main Draw. The tournament will include a total of 32 teams - 24 that qualify directly from World Rankings and eight from qualification matches.