Lausanne, Switzerland, February 2, 2012 – The International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) is pleased to confirm that the picturesque city of Larnaka will welcome the international beach volleyball boys and girls aged under 19 from July 12 to 15 when Cyprus hosts the FIVB Beach Volleyball SWATCH Youth World Championships 2012.
The FIVB announced in November that Cyprus would stage the event and now can confirm the city and dates. Larnaka is the second largest city in Cyprus with a population of over 70,000, situated on the southern coast.
In an excellent illustration of the popularity of this age-group tournament, a total of 32 teams will participate in the main draw, up from 24 in previous editions.
Each confederation has a quota of six teams per gender and will stage their own qualification process to determine these. The additional two places will be filled by the host country.
Cyprus Volleyball Federation President Damianos Hadjidamianou said in November that he was looking forward to welcoming the world’s best under-19 players, adding that the tournament will help promote beach volleyball in the country.
Cyprus hosted FIVB Challenger events in 2006, 2007 and 2008, as well as a number of CEV Satellite tournaments.
The FIVB Beach Volleyball SWATCH Youth World Championships were last held in Umag, Croatia, with Polish pairs Lukasz Kaczmarek and Macjej Kosiak, and Karolina Baran and Katarzyna Kociolek winning the men’s and women’s titles, respectively.