COSTA MESA, CALIF. and ST. PETERSBURG, FLA. — APRIL 8, 2015 — The Association of Volleyball Professionals has partnered with the Federation International de Volleyball to host the St. Petersburg Grand Slam as part of the 2015 FIVB World Tour. The partnership will bring the world’s premiere international volleyball tour to St. Petersburg, Fla. for the first time as the top beach volleyball athletes compete at Spa Beach June 15-21.
The St. Petersburg Grand Slam is the second of five Grand Slam events on the FIVB World Tour schedule and is expected to draw the top talent from around the world to compete in the five-day tournament. The event will feature a maximum of 32 teams per gender, all vying for a piece of the $800,000 prize purse as well as valuable world ranking points. The results of the Grand Slam event are considered part of the Olympic qualifying process for the 2016 Rio games.
The tournament is the 12th FIVB Grand Slam event ever held in the United States, and the first in St. Petersburg, which has successfully hosted well-attended AVP Tour events the last two years.
The world’s best beach volleyball athletes and AVP stars are expected to take part in the event, including three-time Olympic gold medalist Kerri Walsh Jennings, Olympic silver medalist April Ross, Olympic gold medalist Phil Dalhausser and two-time Olympian Sean Rosenthal. Other countries expected to be represented in the competition include Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Venezuela among others.
General admission to the event is free. VIP tickets and hospitality packages will be available for purchase soon at www.avp.com/tickets.
More information about the event can be found at www.avp.com/events and on the FIVB website.