Visakhapatnam, India, October 1, 2018 - Visakhapatnam will host the first-ever FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour event in India as RamaKrishna Beach is the site for the third beach volleyball event on the 2019 FIVB calendar year.
The Vizag Open India will be played from February 28 to March 3 for both men and women. It will follow a stop earlier in the month in Cambodia.
A port city and industrial centre in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh on the east coast of the country on the Bay of Bengal, Visakhapatnam is known for its many beaches and the home to a preserved submarine at the Kursura Submarine Museum.
India has hosted men's and women's FIVB Challenger/Satellite events twice before in 2008 and 2010 with pairs from Brazil, Germany, Russia and Thailand posting gold medal finishes at Chennai. Here are the winners of the FIVB Challenger/Satellite Indian events.
Men2008 - Luizao Correa/Thomas Klepper, Brazil
2010 - Alexander Likholetov/Evgeniy Romashkin, Russia
Women2008 - Jarunee Sannok/Usa Tenpaksee, Thailand
2010 - Jana Kohler/Kira Walkenhorst, Germany
NOTE - Italian indoor legend Ivan Zaytsev earned the silver medal with Andrea Tomatis at the 2008 Chennai event. Walkenhorst's appearance in the 2010 Chennai tournament was her international beach volleyball debut.